Russia restricts entry to settlements and closes schools early in Belgorod Oblast

Vyacheslav Gladkov, Governor of Russia's Belgorod Oblast, has announced the spring school holiday will begin early in the Russian districts bordering Ukraine, and entry to seven settlements in the area will be restricted.

Source: Gladkov on social media

Details: The Belgorod Oblast Operational Headquarters reported that seven settlements of the Grayvoron urban district, from which residents had been evacuated earlier, are subject to restricted entry effective 20 March.

Checkpoints will be set up at the entrances to allow residents to briefly return home to feed their livestock. The oblast authorities are continuing to persuade people to leave the border areas.

In addition, Gladkov announced a premature start to the school break in the districts bordering Ukraine, as well as in the city of Belgorod and the Yakovlev urban district.

Previously: Ukrainian intelligence reported that Belgorod Oblast authorities decided to evacuate local residents due to the combat operations of anti-regime Russian military volunteer groups.

Ukraine's Defence Intelligence intercepted a conversation of a local resident, which backed up claims that the population of the town of Grayvoron in Russia's Belgorod Oblast was being evacuated.

Gladkov claims that 9,000 children are being evacuated from Belgorod and the border areas of the oblast.

Background:

• Since 12 March 2024, there have been ongoing hostilities in the border areas of Belgorod and Kursk oblasts of Russia between Russian military forces and Russian volunteers fighting on the side of Ukraine: the Freedom of Russia Legion, the Russian Volunteer Corps and the Sibir (Siberian) Battalion.
• On 13 March, Russian volunteers published a joint statement announcing strikes on Russian military positions in Belgorod and Kursk and called on residents to evacuate.
• The Russian Volunteer Corps then issued a call to all residents of Kursk and Bryansk oblasts who did not have time or were unable to evacuate to seek shelter immediately.

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