“We’re hiding in the bathroom”: a resident of Belgorod was delighted to send her son to the Tambov region

Over the past week, 16 civilians were killed and 98 were injured from shelling by the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Belgorod region. There is a high level of terrorist threat in the region.

“We are currently resettling a large number of villages,” Vyacheslav Gladkov told the press on the morning of March 20. – Now we are planning to remove about 9,000 children from Belgorod, Belgorodsky district, Shebekinsky district, Grayvoronsky district. On Friday, March 22, 1200 children travel to Penza, Tambov and Kaluga. Next is the Stavropol Territory. The system is built.”

Holidays for schoolchildren in the region were supposed to begin on March 25, but they were done earlier – from Monday, March 18.

The latest report from the Belgorod region about the shelling on March 20: “Since early morning, the Grayvoronsky district has been under massive shelling, including with the use of MLRS,” Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote in his Telegram channel. “To my great sorrow, two civilians were killed in Grayvoron; the men were on the street when the shells arrived. According to preliminary data, two people were injured… In the city, a social facility was severely damaged – the catering unit was destroyed. Presumably, an employee of the institution may be under the rubble… In the village of Golovchino, the roof, facade, fence were damaged and windows were broken in one household. In the village of Kozinka, one car was damaged as a result of the arrival of a shell.”

On the afternoon of March 20, Belgorod was also subjected to another shelling from the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and the Russian air defense system was activated over the city and region. According to preliminary information, one civilian was killed and two were injured – a 17-year-old girl and a man. As a result of the air attack of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the city, several apartments in 12 buildings were damaged (windows were broken, balconies were damaged) and 16 cars. There is also destruction on the territory of three educational facilities – two kindergartens and a school.

Fortunately, thanks to the measures taken by the authorities, no one was injured in these children’s institutions. In the kindergartens that were hit, as Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote, “duty groups are now being redistributed to other kindergartens in the city, so there were no children or teachers in the institutions.” Just as there was no one except security at the school, the Operational Headquarters made a timely decision to postpone the school holidays to an earlier date.

Former Shebekino resident Anastasia and her fifth-grader son moved away from the shelling last summer – to Belgorod, where, as she thought at that time, they would be safer. But then everything changed…

Anna rents an apartment for 23,000 rubles and works remotely as an accountant. The worst shelling of Belgorod on December 30, 2023, with a large number of wounded, happened in their area, and the woman says that it was only by miracle that their house was not damaged. The arrivals were “one step away” from them. Until now, not all the facades of the houses have been repaired: the workers simply do not have time, because every day they only have more work to do.

Around public transport stops in the city, concrete blocks appeared with the words “Shelter” and with signs in which direction to look for a pharmacy, and when the siren starts to sound, people are taken off the buses to take shelter in them.

“We haven’t gone anywhere, we’re in the center of Belgorod,” says the young woman. – I no longer know where to go, what to go with… I’ve reached the stage of acceptance, or something… My son is leaving for the Tambov region on Friday, to a camp. I don’t even know yet where and what time we should come, whether he will go by train or by bus – we were simply told to pack our things. But there is no evacuation as such; There are about 200,000 children living in the region, but only 9,000 will leave. I know that, for example, the entire village of Kozinka, where the situation is already very difficult, was evacuated. But we were simply told that we could send the children to rest for three weeks so that the parents could decide something during this time. As for me, I don’t know what to decide. I just furnished my rented apartment, bought dishes, bought a computer desk for my son… I can’t pack all this so easily and go to the next city. I just live, that’s all.

– Have you been offered to send your son to the camp? How it was?

– A few days ago, a teacher urgently sent a question to the chat: which parent wants to send their children outside the region for 21 days? They offered several areas to choose from. Naturally, half the class agreed.

Moreover, it turns out that the children also take in the beginning of school at the camp (since the holidays last for two weeks in total). Parents have not yet been explained how their children’s learning process will proceed after the end of the holiday period.

“I’m sending him with joy,” continues Anna. “Besides the fact that he will be safe there, it will also save some money in terms of costs. But the most important thing is safety. When the shelling starts, we don’t know where it will fly, and my son and I hide in the bathroom and sit there until the missile danger ends. The child now sits in the apartment for days on end, but at least he can take a walk in the camp…

As Anna said, the city is emptying. All those who have personal cars, dachas in remote places or hospitable relatives in other cities – in a word, everyone who can, are leaving.

“I can even judge this by the views from my balcony,” she says. – I don’t leave the house anywhere, I work remotely. And it’s very noticeable that there are fewer people and cars. Schools are on vacation. Children don’t make noise in the yards. Even “Tasty and full stop”, imagine, closed. Mail doesn’t work. Belgorod has become like Shebekino, where we left…

Residents of the city have already “adapted”, so to speak, to the arrival schedule. According to Anna, until recently the Ukrainian Armed Forces struck in the morning, at lunchtime and in the evening, that is, at approximately 8, 13 and 18 o’clock, but now this happens twice a day, at 11-12 o’clock and the second time in the late afternoon. “At least they don’t hit us at night,” the woman sighs.

– Return to Shebekino? Come on, it’s just as dangerous and just as tense there, but it’s even worse – there’s practically no Internet there, but there are threats of a DRG attack…