“Don’t Russians Abandon Their Own?”

How Russia Renounced the People of Belgorod

Ivan Sichen

As explained by the Kremlin, one of the main goals of Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine (but in fact a full-scale war against our country), is “to protect the Russian-speaking population from Ukrainian Nazis”. How it ended for people in the East and South of Ukraine, where most of them actually communicated in Russian, is common knowledge. Suffice it to recall Mariupol…

It is clear that Moscow is in no way concerned with the fate and life of Russian-speaking Ukrainians. But for the sake of its neo-imperialist goals, it is ready to sacrifice even Russian citizens, which is now happening on a massive scale. Let alone the “meat assaults” on the front, which the Russian army resorts to, and the dead or wounded left on the battlefield. But Putin’s regime openly abandoned the residents of the Russian regions bordering Ukraine, which actually became a war zone. Well, it has been heard more than once that “Russians do not abandon their own”. And when it does happen, Russian propaganda immediately steps in, aggressively denying obvious facts in its usual cynical manner. Therefore, it would be appropriate to discuss this topic in more detail.

At the end of March 2024, the scandalous Russian propagandist Vladimir Solovyov cynically labelled a “disgusting hysteria” the complaints of residents of the Russian city of Belgorod about shelling, which had become catastrophic for them, and Moscow’s neglect of their problems: “…Everyone who says that the federals have abandoned Belgorod, — shut up, brutes”. This caused an extremely negative reaction among local residents. They offered the propagandist to move his “cozy studio” to their area. What can I say here, the truth is on their side, because as a result of the actions of the Russian army, the city of Belgorod is gradually turning into the “new Mariupol”. The same applies to the border areas of Belgorod region, where it is already absolutely impossible to live.

Yes, it is from the city of Belgorod that terrorist attacks are carried out on the city of Kharkiv and other settlements in Kharkiv region of Ukraine. In its northern suburbs, Iskander-M operational-tactical missile systems from the 448^th Missile Brigade (permanent deployment in the city of Kursk), as well as S-300 air defense systems that fire at ground targets, are deployed. This is a common practice for Russia, when attack weapons are located in residential areas, in order to use them as “human shields”.

All of them are legitimate targets for Ukraine’s retaliatory strikes. Which is done with the help of unmanned aerial vehicles, multiply rocket launchers and sometimes missiles. And it is not the fault of the Ukrainians that the Russians shot down some of them directly above the city of Belgorod, where the missile debris fall. They destroy residential buildings and other infrastructure objects every day, and people die from them.

However, not only debris falls, but sometimes also Russian missiles themselves, which change their course due to technical failures. Especially now, when the quality of Russian weapons has sharply decreased due to Western sanctions. And bombs fall on the city of Belgorod from Russian aircrafts, which are lost due to the same technical failures or carelessness of the crews. By the way, the air base of Russian tactical aircrafts that fly over Belgorod to bombard Ukraine is located in nearby Voronezh at the Baltimore airfield.

The center of the city of Belgorod has already been practically destroyed. The vast majority of residential buildings have been hit by artillery shells more than once. The streets are littered with glass from broken windows and construction debris. Power lines are constantly damaged, so the city does not have power for a long time. The village of Razumnoye, not far from the city of Belgorod in Belgorod district, is completely destroyed by fragments of Russian missiles.

This also applies to border areas of Belgorod region, from where the Russian troops are constantly shelling the adjacent Ukrainian territories. Of course, they suffer retaliatory strikes. In addition, Russian rebels from the Russian Volunteer Corps and the Legion of Freedom of Russia and now the Siberian Battalion are active there. In June 2023, they took control of a part of Shebekino district, and in February-March 2024 — a part of Graivoron district. And in Kursk region, the rebels entered Glushkovo district.

As at one time in the North Caucasus, Russia regains control over lost settlements in the same way — by destroying them with rocket and artillery fire along with civilians and hostages. In particular, in June 2023, this was done to the village of Novaya Tavolzhanka in Shebekino district of the Belgorod region. It also happened to the city of Shebekino itself, which still has not been restored and is therefore unfit for a normal life. In 2024, the Russians almost completely leveled the village of Tyotkino in Glushkovo district. There, too, no one cared about the civilians who still remained there.

Because of the hostilities, people began to leave the border areas of Belgorod region as early as 2023. And then they were forcibly resettled from there, in total — several tens of thousands of people. People were housed in so-called temporary accommodation facilities. Most of those are tent camps, where previously deported Ukrainian citizens stayed. In addition, various types of premises were used, such as gyms, recreation centers, sanatoria, etc. Those who were lucky got into hotels and hostels. Some refugees were sent to other regions, to the Far East included.

The refugees were forced to leave their homes and all their property, including livestock and poultry. In the first days, what was left behind was looted by marauders — Russian soldiers. The property was taken out by trucks, as the Russians did back in 2014 in the territories of the Donbas occupied by them (and declared by them as their own). After all, as mentioned above, they “don’t abandon” their own, because they rob them too. Since Russians, and even more so, Russian military, don’t care whom to loot, as long as there is what to…

The living conditions of the displaced persons are terrible. Bunk beds are close to each other in the gyms. There they sleep, not separated by families, men and women who are strangers to each other. A certain preference is given only to the elderly, who can be placed on the beds of the lower tier. However, everyone gets the same bad food. Portions are small, meals are the simplest soup and porridge. Little children are given neither milk nor baby food. The displaced persons are not able to cook anything themselves, because they are not allowed to use gas or electric stoves. Own electric cookers are out of the question. They don’t have either money, or a job.

As recently as last year, employees of temporary accommodation centers and, in general, residents of the city of Belgorod defiantly treated refugees from the border areas, calling them “Khokhols” (Ukrainians — transl.). There were indeed many ethnic Ukrainians in those areas, but they were all full-fledged citizens of the Russian Federation. And then the owners of the premises, where the temporary accommodation facilities were located, began to evict the refugees. No one offered them other living quarters. And later, the war came to the city of Belgorod itself and the remote areas of Belgorod region. Due to constant shelling, in Belgorod the majority of shopping and entertainment centers, educational institutions are closed, cinemas, fitness centers, gyms, swimming pools, etc. are not functioning.

From February-March 2024, the local population began to leave there en masse. About ten thousand children were evacuated. They are placed in children’s camps in different regions of Russia. And not only in the western part of the country, but also in the extreme north, where the air temperature is minus 20 degrees. Not much better in other places. It is not surprising that children are sick, and there are not enough medications even for local children. Therefore, the local staff’s attitude to children is also frankly negative. Children call their parents and ask them to help to return. They believe that “it is better to live under bombs than in such conditions”. In order to prevent the spread of such information, mobile phones are taken away from children. Parents, having lost contact, cannot find out any news about them.

The same happens to all other residents of Belgorod who seek refuge outside the region. Locals refuse to rent them apartments, and often refuges can hear: “Belgorod is a Ukrainian city, we do not owe you anything, and we will not rent apartments to Khokhols”. But even if they manage to rent a flat, it is at a price two or three times higher than usual. That is, those residents of Belgorod, who previously despised the residents of their border areas, found themselves in the same condition of fugitives. As the saying goes: “As you sow, so shall you reap”.

And this is only the beginning of such a case. The city of Kursk and Kursk region are next, where air alarms sound almost everywhere, and residents from border settlements are also in a hurry to leave. The situation is the same in the city of Bryansk and Bryansk region. And increasing the number of Ukrainian long-range UAVs will make it possible to “quake” Voronezh, Rostov-on-Don and other western Russian regions. Or maybe Tatarstan, which was recently hit by Ukrainian drones. The vaunted Russian air defense, which is “the best in the world and several generations ahead of Western weapons”, did not prevent this.

I wonder if anyone in the Kremlin could have imagined such a development at the beginning of Russia’s attack on Ukraine? Or those Russians who previously lived in Russian regions bordering on Ukraine? Could they have foreseen that they themselves would be unwanted refugees in their own country? At the end of February – beginning of March 2022, the Bryansk, Kursk and Belgorod media enthusiastically reported how convoys of Russian troops were heading to Ukraine. But already in April 2022, they confusingly reported about the escape from our country of the remnants of that troops. Currently, the main topic of the local media is the shelling of Russian border regions, the problems of evacuating Russians from there.

We can only hope that this trend continues in the future. And soon we will witness how the Russian rebels will liberate Bryansk, Kursk and Belgorod regions. After that, it will be the turn of other Russian regions. The historical experience of 1917 and 1991 clearly testifies to this.

Finally, a few more words about Vladimir Putin and his henchmen’s statements regarding “the need to create a buffer zone on the border territories of Ukraine, which would make it possible to secure the city of Belgorod and Belgorod region”. According to residents of Belgorod themselves, it is not Kharkiv or Sumy that is currently turning into such a “buffer zone”, it is their own region, Belgorod…