KYIV: Russian officials in the southern border city of Belgorod offered to evacuate worried residents on Friday, an unprecedented announcement that follows waves of fatal Ukrainian attacks.
The Kremlin has tried to maintain a semblance of normalcy on the home front, but the recent strikes on Belgorod have brought the Ukraine conflict closer to home for Russians.
Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov’s assurance that scared civilians can relocate represents the furthest-reaching measure taken by any major Russian city since Moscow ordered the invasion of Ukraine nearly two years ago.
“I see several appeals on social media where people write: we are scared, help us get to a safe place,” Gladkov said in a video message.
“Of course we will! We have already moved several families,” he added.
His offer came a day after overnight shelling wounded at least two people and knocked out glass from high-rise buildings, prompting widespread concern from residents.
The bout of shelling prompted city officials earlier Friday to urge residents to secure their windows with tape to prevent shattering from blast waves — a measure widespread across Ukraine.
Ukrainian shelling in Belgorod less than a week ago killed 25 people — the worst attack on Russian civilians since the conflict began.
Gladkov said residents would be transported to the towns of Stary Oskol and Gubkin, further from the border, where they would be housed in “comfortable conditions”.
“You will stay there for as long as necessary,” he added, but warned there would not be enough temporary accommodation to house everybody.
“I will appeal to my colleagues, the governors of other regions, to help us,” he said.
Ukraine released images on Friday of what it said was a Russian Kinzhal ballistic missile, which it claimed earlier in the week to have downed using the US Patriot anti-aircraft system.
Ukraine’s state emergency service published photographs on its Telegram channel showing a crane extracting the remains of a missile from the ground, which AFP was not immediately able to verify.
Ukraine had said on Tuesday it had shot down ten Kinzhal missiles Russia fired at the country.
Kinzhal missiles make up part of an arsenal of weapons that Putin has claimed were indestructible because of the speed at which they travel, up to ten times the speed of sound.
According to the British defence ministry, Moscow reserves these warheads for what it considers to be “high-value and well-defended” targets.
Meanwhile Ukraine’s air force said Friday that Russia had launched nearly 30 Iranian-designed attack drones overnight, but that 21 had been downed.
Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had repelled a Ukrainian attack over Crimea, shooting down 36 drones over the peninsula annexed in 2014. – AFP
