MOSCOW: Five thousand children have been evacuated from Russia’s Belgorod region bordering Ukraine following weeks of deadly bombardment by Kyiv, the governor of Russia’s Belgorod region said on Saturday.
Regional authorities had previously stated that 9,000 minors would be relocated to other regions after a series of cross-border shelling and drone strikes resulted in the deaths of over a dozen civilians.
Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said “Five thousand of our children are already outside the region. Yesterday, 1,300 children arrived in Saint Petersburg, Bryansk, and Makhachkala.”
Children remaining in the region, particularly in municipalities close to the border, including the capital Belgorod, will transition to remote learning next month, he added.
Furthermore, businesses that had closed due to the attacks will be permitted to reopen, provided that “staff are trained in first aid” and windows are secured with tape.
Belgorod has faced repeated attacks termed as indiscriminate by Russian officials since the conflict began over two years ago. On Friday, a Ukrainian drone crashed into a multi-story apartment building in Belgorod city, resulting in the death of a man and injuring two others, including his wife, according to Gladkov.
