Ghost town of Russia

Belgorod has been the launch site of many rockets and projectiles towards Ukraine and a key point for the Russian occupation forces. In 2023, after a year of attacks on its cities and towns, Ukraine has changed tactics and expanded its operations inside Russian territory, placing the Belgorod region at the center of the attacks.

Deserted streets, closed shops and quiet restaurants. Damaged buildings and craters from rocket strikes in the streets. Arrows through the walls of houses pointing the way to bomb shelters and stockpiles of emergency supplies.
The once quiet city of Belgorod, about 25 miles north of Russia's border with Ukraine, has turned into a ghost town. His excessive calm is interrupted by the sound of sirens warning of a missile attack - a reminder that war with neighboring Ukraine is drawing ever closer. 

Reporting from the region has been complicated by media restrictions and government control over press freedom. Many Russians are afraid to speak freely for fear of prosecution. 
Despite this, residents of Belgorod have shared their struggle to move on to the city's uncertain future, where daily life has been irrevocably changed since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022. 

Belgorod has been the launch site for many rockets and projectiles towards Ukraine and a key point for Russia's occupation forces. In 2023, after a year of attacks on its cities and towns, Ukraine has changed tactics and expanded its operations inside Russian territory, placing the Belgorod region at the center of the attacks. 

Over the past few weeks, the Belgorod region has been subject to almost daily shelling and drone attacks. Russian authorities blame Ukraine and report that they have stopped the attacks, while also acknowledging the damage and losses caused by them. The Belgorod region has withstood the main attacks of the war, compared to more remote Russian regions, which have generally been unaffected by the attacks.
The governor of the Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said on March 23 that 24 people had been killed and 152 injured in just two weeks.

"Belgorod alarmed"

At the height of the attacks in Belgorod, Timur Khaliullin, 36-year-old organist of the Belgorod Philharmonic, took a tour of his turbans through the deserted city center to show others what he looked like, in a video titled “ Belgorod alarmed".

There, Khaliullin points to the closed doors of shops and restaurants and arrows to shelters, emergency boxes and basements where residents can take shelter. 
As he gets to the center and puts on the flippers, the sirens start to sound. "Do you hear that? That's how scary the sound of sirens is. It's an air raid alert. This means that there will be attacks now, I have to take shelter somewhere", says Khaliullini behind the camera.

He takes shelter in one of the empty concrete boxes, positioned along the square, each marked with the word "Shelter". Screens placed around the square instruct residents on exactly how to take shelter during attacks, provide first aid instructions, and some even have patriotic phrases written on them. One of the messages says: "The battle for Russia continues. Victory will be ours!"

As the sirens stop, Khaliullini continues his walk, filming the empty streets and people waiting at the bus stop. According to locals, public transport commuters often spend hours waiting at stations for sirens to signal that all is well, allowing buses to return to service and life in the city to go on - until the next missile threat. 

The city hasn't always looked like this. Depicting her pre-war city of Belgorod, 25-year-old volunteer Natalia Izotova has painted a beautiful picture. "It's a small and cozy southern city with lots of trees and greenery, where it gets very hot in the summer," she said. "It's such a quiet and small place where everyone lives their lives and tries to make a difference in any way they can." 

Born and raised in Belgorod, Izotova said that despite the "terrible fear" she experiences whenever she hears the sirens, she is reluctant to leave and is committed to her work at a local charity that helps people with disabilities. "You live in a very big place of misunderstanding and fear. At the same time, you don't want to leave the city. But the Belgorod you remember no longer exists."

Now that the city is empty, few people dare to go outside except when they have to, she said. "They're still trying to get out on the street, but it's getting bleak. The city is becoming like a ghost town."

Deadly bombings

In mid-March, amid escalating Ukrainian attacks and warning sirens sounding four to five times a day, Gladkov, the regional governor, announced the closure of shopping centers and schools and the cancellation of classes for two days in several regions, including the city of Belgorod. 

Videos from Belgorod showed scenes of chaos as people drove through smoke and burning cars, as well as damaged buildings and residents fleeing with their belongings, amid the sound of explosions and air raid sirens. 

The pavement of the main square bears signs of shell damage – a reminder of the shell that fell on December 30 during the most devastating attack. Toys and flowers have been placed on the stairs in memory of the victims. 
After a major airstrike in Ukraine by Russia on December 29, Kiev retaliated a day later by targeting the Belgorod region. At least 25 people were killed, including three children, and 113 others were wounded, Gladkov said, making it the deadliest attack inside Russia since the war began. 

"This is the darkest day we have had recently", said Elizaveta, 24 years old, who asked to be identified only by her name for security reasons. She was among the witnesses of the December 30 attack. 

As she was leaving work at a liquor store near the city center, she heard explosions. At first, everyone had thought it was the usual noises of air defense operations. 

"And then I saw everything: Everything was on fire, it was covered in smoke, the buses had stopped and the taxis were not moving, because the roads were completely blocked", she said. "At one point, the city was dead, nobody expected that. Many people have died, the whole city mourned and continues to mourn to this day." 

Life there hasn't been the same since, she said. Her store has had fewer customers as many people are afraid to leave their homes.

"Dead City"

Like many others in Belgorod, Elizaveta has family in Kharkiv, across the border, with whom she has not spoken since they were separated in the first months of the war. Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city, has been affected by increased Russian attacks in recent times. 

“Here in Belgorod, many of us have relatives on both sides of the border. People from Belgorod have often visited Kharkiv and vice versa. It is really depressing to see such division between people, who were once so connected together", said Elizaveta. 
"I long for a return to normalcy, where people feel less afraid and regain a sense of security. The city is lifeless: when you go out on the street at any hour you don't see anyone or any vehicle, it seems like you are on a deserted island", she added.

Vasily, a 27-year-old human resources manager, who asked to be identified only by his first name for the same reasons, described a sense of anxiety that follows his fellow residents every time they leave the house, fearing shelling or rocket attacks. weighed down the mind. 

By late March, the disruptions caused by the attacks had become so predictable that setting a morning alarm seemed unnecessary. 

"You don't even need to set an alarm anymore because as if it were planned, at eight o'clock in the morning, we hear the alarm of a shell attack, another missile launch, air defense operations or other war-related operations," Vasily said.

Looting amid chaos

As the situation has worsened, essential services have begun to deteriorate. Shops and restaurants have closed their doors and food deliveries have become increasingly rare. Faced with the reality of living in a conflict zone, Vasily, like many other residents, considered leaving the city, but decided to stay because his wife is enrolled at the local university. 

"A large number of people in Belgorod are choosing to move further away from the region or out of it, basically, anywhere away from the border where they can be less at risk," Vasily said.
While authorities have ordered a general evacuation, Gladkov said on March 30 that 5.000 children had been evacuated to safer regions, including St. Petersburg, Bryansk and Makhachkala. In total, the authorities have planned to relocate around 9.000 children to other regions due to the ongoing bombing, state media reported. 

Deserted areas have witnessed escalation of crime. In early April, the head of the Grayvoron district in the Belgorod region warned of an increase in looting cases, with the largest number of such cases reported in the district's border settlements.

Authorities have since been trying to retake territories along the border in time for Victory Day on May 9, when Russia commemorates its 1945 victory over Nazi Germany. 
In the meantime, border villages in the Belgorod region remain abandoned and dilapidated, and authorities appear to be in no rush to encourage residents to return to their homes. 
As the war continues, those left in Belgorod become less optimistic about the future. 
"Considering that Russia is fighting in such a way that what is left behind is scorched earth, I am very afraid that only scorched earth may remain from the territory around Belgorod as well," said Vasily.

Izotova expressed a similar sentiment, describing the overwhelming sense of abandonment that has enveloped her since the Dec. 30 attack — a feeling that has grown in recent weeks. 
In one of the last statements about the Belgorod region, Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed "gratitude" and "admiration" for the courage of the residents and promised support to them and other border regions.

Despite this security, according to Izotova, many residents of Belgorod still feel neglected by the media, the authorities and the wider Russian population, which seems to pay no attention to the war. 
The challenges faced by Belgorod seem to have been overlooked, Izotova said, which has made even those who oppose the war think that there should not be sympathy only for the Ukrainian victims. 

"While there continues to be panic, fear and uncertainty, people are still trying to offer help. I think our main goal now is to help those who are facing difficulties - both Ukrainians and victims of the conflict inside Russia," she said. 

"It is important not to remain silent or draw attention to comparisons of suffering, but rather to accept the reality of war and remember who instigated it. "Russia is rooted in permanent grief, experiencing it from the inside, while imposing it on others," added Izotova.