Empty Streets In Russian City After Repeat Ukraine Attacks Force Evacuations

The last several days have witnessed eerily empty streets in the Russian border city of Belgorod, after local authorities initiated limited evacuations, and this during the holiday season (also given Russia celebrates Christmas on Jan.7).

At least hundreds of residents of Belgorod city "decided to temporarily move" to safety shelters elsewhere in the region, after this month has seen near daily cross-border shelling and drone attacks from Ukraine. 

Russia has been launching its own major retaliatory airstrikes against Ukraine, which have also killed dozens of civilians.

These attacks on Belgorod and the region have stretched back for weeks, and have killed over 25 people and injured scores more. According to one outlet with correspondents in the region, parts of Belgorod appear like a ghost town.

And CNN cites the following statement from authorities:

In Monday’s message, Gladkov said his office had received 1,300 applications to send children from Belgorod to school camps in other regions, and that his colleagues from the regions of Voronezh, Kaluga, Tambov, and Yaroslavl – some distance from Belgorod – are “ready to help us.”

Shelling has pummeled the city center, and even areas with Christmas marketplaces, causing residents to avoid all central areas.

"Today, 392 schoolchildren from Belgorod will go to out-of-town health camps in the Voronezh and Kaluga regions for 21 days," Belgorod mayor Valentin Demidov announced Wednesday.

City residents say it feels like there's nowhere to hide from the random, sporadic shelling and attacks:

"Nowhere is safe," 42-year-old kindergarten teacher Evgenia Savenko told AFP, as she walked through the city's main square with her preschool-age son.

"It can happen anywhere -- at home or in a neighboring town," she said. "The fear is always present. It never goes away."

And another eyewitness:

"Every day they bomb, in the morning and in the evening," said 83-year-old pensioner Nina Tikhonova, whose neighbour's house was damaged by shelling.

"My acquaintances took their children to Ivanovo," a Russian city some 250 kilometres (155 miles) northeast of the capital Moscow, she said.

The Russian government has vowed to do everything possible to stave off the attacks and protect the citizenry; however, so far there's been nothing new other than 'revenge' strikes on Ukrainian cities. Ultimately, civilians on both sides bear the brunt of the suffering in this escalating tit-for-tat.