“I feel very sorry for the children”: a resident of a border Bryansk village spoke about her difficult life

Today, October 31, has become a real hell for residents of border villages in the Bryansk region. Civilians were subjected to mass shelling from Ukraine, the likes of which had never been seen before. The Ukrainian Armed Forces hit the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker with mortars in the urban village of Belaya Berezka and tried to attack the Bryansk plywood mill, firing 14 shells from the Grad rocket launcher at it. Ukrainian military personnel sent their UAVs to Russian settlements, including the Bryansk region, which were successfully destroyed by the Russian military. MK contacted a resident of the village of Belaya Berezka, which was also shelled today.

Local public pages in the Bryansk region even suggested that, apparently, in a similar cynical manner, the Kiev regime decided to celebrate Halloween, which is widely celebrated in English-speaking countries on the night of November 1.

Today, October 31, the Ukrainian Armed Forces hit the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in the village of Belaya Berezka with mortars. According to available information, the Ukrainian Armed Forces fired in the morning at 11:00 from the Sumy region. In total, about 10 shells arrived. Fortunately, they didn’t hit the temple itself; local residents told MK about this. It is reported that the rector and staff of the temple took refuge in the basements at the time of the attack.

At about 4 p.m., we managed to thwart an attempt by the Kyiv regime to carry out a terrorist attack by an aircraft-type UAV on targets on Russian territory. According to the Ministry of Defense, air defense systems on duty destroyed a Ukrainian UAV over the territory of the Bryansk region.

Most often, the border town of Sluchevsk, which is located 1 km from the border, the villages of Lomakovka and Kurkovichi, Aleynikovo, the same Belaya Berezka, suffer from shelling in the region… Today at 11 o’clock in the VKontakte public page of Belaya Berezka a notification appeared: “Everyone take shelter! Shelling of Belaya Berezka village.”

Earlier, on October 28, the Bryansk governor announced the total number of houses destroyed by Ukrainian terrorists: since the beginning of the Northern Military District, the Bryansk region has been shelled 1,273 times by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. As a result, 37 private residential buildings were destroyed, 617 were damaged. 10 apartment buildings, 86 cars, 3 first aid stations, two schools, 4 kindergartens, 2 rural recreation centers, 14 shops, 33 industrial and agricultural buildings were also damaged. According to the head of the region, 187.9 million rubles were allocated to restore houses and help citizens.

MK managed to contact a resident of the urban village of Belaya Berezka, who, on condition of anonymity, agreed to describe the situation. We communicated via WhatsApp, but in general there are difficulties with mobile communications in the village, “there are jammers everywhere.” At first, the woman was incredulous when asked by the MK correspondent to talk about the life of the village in an environment of constant shelling: “We have been at gunpoint for two years. We are waiting for something every second. You’ll be suspicious here. What if you are interested in the wrong things?”

As in all border settlements of Russia, in the Belgorod, Kursk, and Bryansk regions, those residents who have somewhere to leave left their homes. According to our interlocutor, out of 7,700 residents of the village of Belaya Berezka, only 5,000 remain. Of the 600 children studying at the local school, 300 remain…

– Just so you understand, my house is located 5 km from the border. I’ve lived here since I was born… People are suffering. A lot of residents left, especially those with children. Some, however, return to care for their parents.

– You yourself don’t have the opportunity to leave?

– I don’t have such an opportunity, I need to take care of my elderly mother. But after today’s shelling, I don’t even know what to do anymore,” the woman begins to cry. – I sit and cry. Many of us have suffered strokes from this constant stress… You see, if only we knew when it was going crazy, but they don’t warn us. And where to hide? For example, I was recently seriously ill, I was lying in bed, where could I hide? I couldn’t even get up.

– Did your church get hit today?

– No, next to him. At that time I was at work… I left work when there was shelling, I heard what seemed to be a plane flying. I don’t understand them. I hear some noise… A woman was walking down the street with a stroller at that moment, she snatched the child from the stroller and hid under a tree. And I’m next to her… We fell face first into this mud. Then I say: thank God they are alive. I feel very sorry for the children.

– Does this often happen?

– About once a week. They are unpredictable… On September 1 there were arrivals twice a day, on September 2 – twice a day, on September 3 – once in the morning, on September 5 and 6 twice…

Among other things, according to the resident, food in their village has become very expensive during this time, and they are trying to travel to an area where it is cheaper.

“There are few residents left, so the shops are closing,” she continues. – It’s like a military town here, armored personnel carriers are driving around… The same thing is happening in Starodubsky, Klimovsky districts… In the summer in our neighboring area, a woman died during shelling, a man was wounded, then died in the hospital, a 16-year-old teenager was hit… And it’s still a pity , of course, that we are not paid extra for living in the border area. At least they paid extra for medicines…