Russia says 300 evacuated from Belgorod over Ukraine strikes

MOSCOW (AFP): Russia has evacuated around 300 residents of Belgorod, a city near the Ukrainian border, over strikes by Kyiv, the governor of the region said on Monday.

“Some 300 residents of Belgorod, who decided to temporarily evacuate, are at the moment being housed in temporary shelter centres in Stary Oskol, Gubkin and the Korochansky district” which are further from the border, Belgorod region governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said in a video posted on Telegram.

“Over the past 24 hours we received 1,300 requests to send Belgorod children to school camps away from the city, in other regions,” he said.

On Friday, Gladkov offered Belgorod residents to evacuate from the city, which is less than 20 miles (32 kilometres) from the Ukrainian border and which has been coming under intensified strikes from Ukraine in recent weeks.

The evacuation from Belgorod is the largest of a major Russian city since Moscow began what it calls its special military operation in Ukraine in February 2022.

On December 30, Ukrainian strikes on the city killed 25 people, the deadliest civilian toll in Russia since the start of hostilities.

The Ukrainian attack followed a massive bombardment by Moscow across Ukraine, the largest such attack since the first weeks of the conflict, which killed 30 people.