A nine-year-old from Belgorod, who overshadowed his sister, will be nominated for a state award

For the second day, a missile siren sounds over Belgorod and the Belgorod region. A day – four to five times. They are shooting all over the Belgorod region.

Information about losses and damage comes from the personal TG channel of Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov. On March 14, a message appeared here about a 9-year-old boy who shielded his 9-month-old sister from window fragments after a shock wave with his body. The governor learned about this courageous act of the little Belgorod resident during a visit to the children’s hospital. It turned out that the hero boy was from a large family.

– I talked to the boys’ mother, who is nearby all the time. They have a large and friendly family – only four children. The woman said that during the explosion, Zhenya acted like a real hero, covering his little sister with himself, the governor wrote.

This act can be called courage, heroism or an instinctive action: to save the most valuable, fragile, defenseless. In any case, the child acted like a real man. His courage was appreciated by the Chairman of the Investigative Committee of Russia, Alexander Bastrykin, and instructed to nominate the little Belgorod resident for a state award.

As a result of the bombing, 9-year-old Zhenya received multiple injuries to the soft tissue of his foot and a traumatic brain injury. His baby sister Angelina has injuries to her face, hand and also a closed craniocerebral injury. The children are being treated at a regional clinical hospital. Their health condition is assessed as moderate.

Mom is on duty nearby. In addition to these two injured babies, she has two more children. The family lives in an apartment in Belovsky, a district of Belgorod.

“The city authorities are now working to restore the damage in the apartment of this large family, as well as in apartments and private houses of other residents of Belgorod and the region,” First Deputy Minister of Public Communications of the region Marina Kuleshova told MK.

On March 15, the first day of the elections, air defense was again operating over the city. At 8 a.m., a school in Belgorod came under fire. “Arrived” at the school stadium. Next to the lush green coating there is now a burnt mark. There were no children at school. In-person learning was canceled in the days leading up to the election. Schoolchildren were switched to distance learning on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

– We knew that they would bomb. The first series of attacks took place on New Year’s Eve, and now on the eve of the elections,” says Tatyana G., a Belgorod resident.

Tatyana is also a mother of many children. Her children are 3, 5, 8 and 10 years old. Her husband works as a tile layer, she is a housewife. Tatyana told a MK correspondent about how families with children live under bombing conditions.

– It’s loud outside. First the sirens sound, then “bang”: a missile has been shot down. During the shelling, we counted 10-12 “bangs”. You can set your watch by their attacks. Every day – at approximately the same time. We don’t close the windows to the apartment, otherwise we won’t hear the rocket alarm. The children are already accustomed, as soon as the signal sounds, everyone goes into one room and sits on the bed. They wait it out.

Only the eldest is afraid. Everyone else runs into the room shouting “hurray” and starts jumping on the bed. For them, sirens have already become commonplace.

You can, of course, go down to the shelter that is nearby, but we are waiting at home. In addition, there are mobile shelters at bus stops.

When sirens sound, public transport in the city stops. You can get off the bus and go to this shelter. But they are usually crowded. There are “Entrance Open” signs hanging on the front doors. The idea was that during shelling, the combination locks on the doors would be unlocked so that anyone could come in and take cover. But this system doesn’t work. The entrances remain closed. At least, that’s exactly what I and my friends came across.

Due to the fact that buses are banned, people travel two hours to work. They walk or hitchhike. But it has already landed in cars several times. Is it dangerous.

At home we also sleep in the same room. Children are in the same bed. Because if they bomb at night, it will be difficult for us to bear them. We are on duty all night: I am half the night, my husband is half the night. We are afraid that we will not hear the sound of the siren.

They usually bomb in the morning, at 8 o’clock, then at 11 o’clock – the second wave, and at 4-5 pm – the third. And at night too. The Ministry of Emergency Situations sends out messages, but they are late: they arrive after the attack. Therefore, we are on duty ourselves, because the time for a missile to fly from the territory of Ukraine to us is 1 minute.

People, of course, do not yet fully understand the degree of danger. During the bombing they remain in their apartments, just like us. Once the siren howled when I was walking out of the store with groceries. I didn’t go for cover, but simply quickened my pace and constantly looked at the sky. Most people do the same.

I would describe the mood in the city as calm. Everyone is silent. There is no such thing: “Come on, let’s leave together. Or: “Let’s stay.” We have personally collected an emergency suitcase: it contains warm clothes, a supply of food and water. Although Belgorod schools switched to full-time learning, I decided to keep the children remote. During the last three days there was no video call with the teacher. The children solved the tasks independently. I think it’s safer this way. Now you’re thinking – not how much to invest in brains, but how to protect these brains,” the Belgorod woman finishes her story.

During our conversation, another missile alarm began. Tatyana went out onto the balcony and let me listen to the siren and air defense strikes. It’s really very loud.

– We hope that after the presidential elections the raids will stop. Let’s live our old life. And even better – for the front line to move further away from us.