A wave of looting has reportedly hit a border region in Russia as Vladimir Putin’s authorities lose control of the Belgorod Oblast region.
Homes and local shops appeared to be targeted by Russian looters amid the chaos as tens of thousands of Russians evacuated border areas in the Belgorod region as pro-Ukrainian forces pushed Russia back.
A video from the city of Shebekino showed a building on fire after a suspected attack. The Ukrainian military has not claimed responsibility for the attacks or denied being behind them.
The settlement has been shelled for days, forcing thousands of residents to flee villages near Russia’s southwestern border as the shelling intensified.
Glowing at the attacks, Kremlin spokesmen on Russian state television called for the use of tactical nuclear weapons to attack major Ukrainian cities.
Burning houses in Shebekino, Belgorod region, Russia after reported strikes
Fire broke through a building in Shebekino, near the border with Ukraine, as anti-Kremlin fighters fell back on Russia. The Ukrainian army has not officially claimed responsibility for the attacks
The nearby village of Sobolevka – where two people were killed – was hit hard by drone strikes, according to local officials, injuring six, including two children.
The attacks seem to indicate that Russian control is slipping away from key settlements near the Ukrainian border.
Partisans in at least two anti-Putin armed groups are trying to establish a bridgehead of “free Russia” in the border areas of the Belgorod region.
Russian commanders handed out medals to defenders in a desperate attempt to boost morale in the devastated border region.
Putin’s state media also showed a macabre but unverified video of corpses of the alleged Russian Volunteer Corps and Ukrainian fighters killed in Russia. It was claimed that more than 50 were killed.
A video also showed a drone strike over the town of Belgorod – 40 kilometers from the border with Ukraine – with Russian air defenses at work.
Many residents of the border region have moved to Belgorod, where temporary shelter is provided.
A man apparently from Shebekino recorded a video around his ransacked flat.
“I’m really speechless,” he said.
Looters turn everything upside down.
“They stole everything,” says a man who recorded a video around his ransacked flat in Shebekino
“Pulling your own people in such troubled times. I’m speechless,’ said the man
‘They stole everything. All our money, everything we’ve saved. How low did they go? Just look at it. How is it possible?’
“Look what the looters have done,” a woman’s voice said. How terrible – they slammed the door. This was done by ourselves [Russian] people’
Many residents of the border area have moved to Belgorod after some buildings were attacked by shelling
‘They stole everything. All our money, everything we’ve saved. How low did they go? Just look at it. How is it possible?
“Pulling your own people in such troubled times. I am speechless.’
Another showed up at a store after the security guard fled the city, reports said.
“Look what the looters have done,” a woman’s voice said. How terrible – they slammed the door. This was done by ourselves [Russian] people.
‘They must have stolen something. There was some tape wrapped around it, but that too was torn. Horrible. It was done by some of our own people.’
Later images showed buildings on fire in another border village of Novaya Tavolzhanka.
According to reports, a retired woman died and another resident suffered shrapnel wounds to the left shoulder.
Belgorod region governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said earlier that five people were killed and 16 injured in the border area today.
Two men were killed in the village of Sobolevka, and a woman died in an ambulance. Two more women died in the Shebekinsky district.
Putin’s propagandists are wildly enthusiastic about the attacks, with one – Vladimir Solovyov – calling for all major Ukrainian cities to be completely wiped out with tactical nuclear weapons, after giving residents six hours to leave before ‘blowing the hell out’ ‘.
In a televised diatribe, Solovyov — considered Putin’s favorite state television propagandist — said: “I’m actually furious. A beautiful Russian city on our land is being overrun by all kinds of Nazi scum.
“We should wipe Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kiev, Odessa, Mykolayiv, Kharkiv off the face of the earth, then rebuild, just break it down into blocks.
“Get everything we have and wipe it off the face of the earth. You need tactical nukes – use them.
Putin’s propagandists are wildly enthusiastic about the attacks, with one – Vladimir Solovyov – calling for all major Ukrainian cities to be completely wiped out with tactical nuclear weapons
“We have to wipe Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kiev, Odessa, Mykolayiv, Kharkiv off the face of the earth, then rebuild, just break it down into blocks,” said Kremlin propagandist Vladimir Solovyov.
“We should not get used to our territory being attacked. Do they want a war without rules? We can fight back.
“We are not them, we will warn the citizens to leave. We give them six hours to leave quickly.
“And blow the hell out of these towns. Then we rebuild them.’
Amid the reported attacks, residents of the hardest-hit provincial towns have poured into the region’s capital, also known as Belgorod.
In Belgorod’s sports arena, which has become the city’s largest center for displaced persons, displaced persons were housed in smaller dormitories.
Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said 2,500 people were housed in temporary shelters, including the sports arena.
“We’ve never had a situation like this,” Gladkov told reporters at the arena.
He said conditions in the arena were becoming “convulsive” and displaced people were being moved to other areas.
Belgorod mayor Valentin Demidov told reporters that a total of 5,000 people had passed through the temporary shelters and registered in recent days, with many to stay with relatives afterwards.
“We are trying to resettle people as soon as possible,” he said.
Separately, Russia faced a drone strike targeting a major oil refinery in the Smolensk region.
Earlier on Friday, Putin’s occupiers faced a suspected Storm Shadow missile attack on Berdiansk, a strategic port on the Sea of Azov.