Russian authorities began to evacuate the residents of Belgorod, Russia, on January 5, after Ukrainian air strikes on the border town intensified. The evacuation of hundreds of Belgorod residents is a first in the war that began with the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 – Russia had not previously carried out such a large evacuation on its territory. Natalia, a resident of Belgorod, told our team that she sent her children to the outskirts of the town in a bid to keep them safe.
On January 5, local authorities suggested that residents of the Russian town of Belgorod consider evacuating. Since then, about 1,300 requests for local children to be schooled outside of the town have been submitted, according to the governor of the oblast (administrative region), in a message published on January 8.
