From the start of the Russian offensive in Ukraine, Antonina Zaikina, a 75-year-old Russian, had packed a suitcase to be ready to flee her town of Chebekino, on the Ukrainian border. This week, that’s what happened.
Chebekino, a city of 40,000 inhabitants located in the Belgorod region, suffered artillery fire of unprecedented intensity, prompting thousands of inhabitants to take refuge in Belgorod, the regional capital thirty kilometers to the northwest, where they are supported.
“We left Chebekino because we were bombed so hard that the windows exploded,” says Antonina Zaikina, who has lived her entire adult life in this town. She says one of her neighbors was injured and had his hand amputated.
The conflict with Ukraine, which the Kremlin has long minimized, now fully affects certain Russian border regions, in particular that of Belgorod, hit by bombings and even armed incursions.
The Russian army said on Thursday it had repelled a Ukrainian attempt to “invade” the Belgorod region, a week after a spectacular incursion by armed men which caused shock and showed the vulnerability of Russian borders.
These incursions were claimed by groups claiming to be Russian and fighting for kyiv. Ukrainian authorities deny any involvement.
Chebekino, for months, had already been subjected to regular and sometimes deadly bombardments. But nothing so strong. “Now they are hitting the center of the city,” says Antonina Zaikina. “A lot of buildings are destroyed.”
The mayor of Belgorod, Valentin Demidov, told AFP on Friday that around 5,000 people fleeing the bombings had passed through the temporary accommodation centers opened in the city in recent days.
The biggest of them is in the Belgorod Arena, a sports complex transformed into a huge dormitory. Hundreds of metal beds have been installed there and are occupied by displaced people.
Thirty-year-old Margarita Nikolaeva hoped the offensive in Ukraine would end quickly. Eventually, she left Chebekino on Thursday with her husband and two children aged nine and eleven during a “small break” in the bombardment.
“We were in the cellar from three to six in the morning. When it calmed down, we got into the car, took the pets and the children and we left”, testifies the young woman.
Margarita and her family moved to a house with a garden in Chebekino three years ago from Siberia. She had found a job easily, but now her life is turned upside down.
Yevgeny Klyuchnikov, a 44-year-old warehouse worker from Chebekino, barely slept for two days because of the “incessant” shelling of the city. Then, Thursday, it was too much. He left for Belgorod by bus.
“If the government does not help us to rebuild and does not give us housing, all the inhabitants (of Chebekino) will be homeless”, he regrets. According to him, his city now looks like a ghost town dotted with bomb craters.
The evacuees interviewed by AFP say they are satisfied with their reception in Belgorod, organized in a calm and professional manner. Many praise the action of the governor, Viatcheslav Gladkov. And all say they want to go home.
“I am speaking to our government, to Mr. Putin. Pay attention to us. We, the inhabitants of Chebekino, have lost everything, we have even lost hope”, launches Nadezhda Otstavnaïa, a 63-year-old retiree who fled with her husband.
She says she is still shocked by the “very frightening” bombings.
Ksenia, a 31-year-old saleswoman, left town with her husband, parents, dog and cats and says she still has faith in the victory of the Russian army.
“Everything is according to plan,” she laughs, quoting the refrain from a famous Russian song. “We hope that everything will be fine and that our people will win, that they will chase them (the Ukrainians) and that we will return home.”
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03/06/2023 15:06:40 – Belgorod (Russie) (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
