June 25, 2024

An Everyday Emergency


An Everyday Emergency
Firefighters extinguish a house damaged by shelling in the Belgorod Oblast.
  Telegram channel of the governor of Belgorod Oblast.

Warnings about the threat of shelling or drone strikes have become daily occurrences since May 2024 in Russia's regions that border Ukraine, according to an analysis by the independent news publication Agentstvo.

In the Belgorod, Kursk, Rostov, and Voronezh regions, the number of air raid warnings has been on the rise. In April, there were just 49 warnings; but in May, there were 160. By mid-June, there have already been 103. Most of these warnings were accompanied by sirens.

The number of days per month on which the alarm was sounded in at least one border region has also increased. There were eight and seven quiet days in April and March, respectively. In May and June, there was only one quiet day each month.

According to Agentstvo's research, the Belgorod region was the most targetted, with the governor warning of shelling 252 times in 3.5 months.

Other statistics also highlight Belgorod Oblast as a Russian region most affected by Russia's War on Ukraine. According to the local publication Fonar ("The Lantern"), more than 1,000 inhabitants of the region have been wounded by the war. In July 2023, Fonar reported that about 1,750 properties in the region had been destroyed beyond repair.

In 2023, the number of people leaving the region was 27 percent higher than in 2021. The war has also significantly impacted crime statistics in the region. In the first nine months of 2023, the number of crimes involving weapons increased 17-fold. Additionally, the number of crimes related to illegal weapons trafficking also rose significantly in 2023, with residents often finding weapons in the forest or purchasing them from the Russian military.

You Might Also Like

Ten Years of Russian Crimea
  • June 16, 2024

Ten Years of Russian Crimea

Russian state media outlet Izvestia is celebrating ten years since the Crimean annexation with a special feature that's pure propaganda.
Forced to Go Back to War
  • June 10, 2024

Forced to Go Back to War

Hundreds of Russian soldiers who left their service without permission are being held in military units, beaten, and then forcibly sent back to the front.
Make Fairy Tales, not War
  • June 05, 2024

Make Fairy Tales, not War

Russian authorities are spending more on the production of fantasy films than on war films, according to a recent study.
An Air Self Defense
  • March 27, 2024

An Air Self Defense

Some Russian companies are buying their own air defense systems.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of our Books

A Taste of Chekhov
December 24, 2022

A Taste of Chekhov

This compact volume is an introduction to the works of Chekhov the master storyteller, via nine stories spanning the last twenty years of his life.

Frogs Who Begged...
November 01, 2010

Frogs Who Begged...

The fables of Ivan Krylov are rich fonts of Russian cultural wisdom and experience – reading and understanding them is vital to grasping the Russian worldview. This new edition of 62 of Krylov’s tales presents them side-by-side in English and Russian. The wonderfully lyrical translations by Lydia Razran Stone are accompanied by original, whimsical color illustrations by Katya Korobkina.

How Russia Got That Way
September 20, 2025

How Russia Got That Way

A fast-paced crash course in Russian history, from Norsemen to Navalny, that explores the ways the Kremlin uses history to achieve its ends.

Bears in the Caviar
May 01, 2015

Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar is a hilarious and insightful memoir by a diplomat who was “present at the creation” of US-Soviet relations. Charles Thayer headed off to Russia in 1933, calculating that if he could just learn Russian and be on the spot when the US and USSR established relations, he could make himself indispensable and start a career in the foreign service. Remarkably, he pulled it of.

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka
November 01, 2012

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

In this comprehensive, quixotic and addictive book, Edwin Trommelen explores all facets of the Russian obsession with vodka. Peering chiefly through the lenses of history and literature, Trommelen offers up an appropriately complex, rich and bittersweet portrait, based on great respect for Russian culture.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955