Exodus of people from Belgorod accelerates_ Residents do not want to live under drone strikes

SUBSCRIBE TO US! Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of the Belgorod region, openly admitted that Russian air defense systems are currently unable to intercept Ukrainian drones directly at the state border, which is why drones regularly penetrate deep into the region. Gladkov answered residents' questions, in particular about why drones fall directly in cities, when the military tracks their number and directions in advance. He explained the reasons, emphasizing the limitations faced by the Russian military. The governor said that air defense systems are not able to hit targets directly near the border, which allows drones to penetrate deep into the region and cause damage before they can be neutralized. “The problem is their height, which does not allow them to be shot down immediately at the state border. When they descend, our units lock onto their targets and then destroy them,” Gladkov explained. In addition, Russian citizens asked why federal TV channels hardly cover the consequences of the attacks in the region. Gladkov replied that “no one is hiding anything,” adding that federal television limits coverage of such events solely because of the huge volume of news across the country, and not in order to hide what is happening. Since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Belgorod region has been regularly subjected to drone attacks. On August 14, 2025, one drone struck the governor’s administration. Further strikes took place on September 10 and 17, hitting a government building. Troops were deployed in the city center, accompanied by automatic fire and explosions, as well as the temporary closure of schools and shopping centers. Despite government promises of assistance and billions of rubles allocated for resettlement from border areas, the situation in Belgorod region remains tense: residents continue to report drone attacks, and the governor’s admission only confirmed that Russian air defense systems are not coping with the drone threat. Under these circumstances, some residents of the city prefer to leave the city. Yevhen Dyky, a veteran of the Russo-Ukrainian war and former company commander of the Aidar battalion, said that deep strikes into Russian territory are what Ukraine has been most adept at during the last year of the war. “And that’s what most resembles a strategy. Because, let’s be honest. Our strategy on the front line is to hold on. And that’s not really a strategy. But the methodical removal of Russian warehouses, logistics, and especially oil refineries is what resembles a well-thought-out strategic line. We just need to understand that it works quite slowly. But it really works,” Dyky said.