As images of destroyed buildings and empty streets in Shebekino spread, experts warn that the Kremlin may be losing political authority over Russia's provinces.
'Putin Is Not In Control': Photos Show Widespread Destruction In Russia's Belgorod Region
This June 7 photo shows an elderly woman from the Shebekino district of Russia’s Belgorod region in temporary accommodation in Belgorod.
Thousands of people in recent days have been evacuated from the Shebekino district, which borders Ukraine.
A June 6 photo shows a destroyed police station and car in Shebekino, the administrative capital of Belgorod’s Shebekino district.
Natalya Cheremchenko, an evacuated resident of the district, told Current Time on June 5, "the dry facts [about the situation in the region] that our government, our Ministry of Defense transmits, do not convey the reality of what is happening there."
A destroyed building in Shebekino is shown on June 6.
Belgorod’s governor claimed on Telegram that on June 4, "611 pieces of various ammunition" were fired by Ukrainian forces into the Shebekino district. On June 8 he reported attacks on another Belgorod town by what he described as Ukrainian "kamikaze drones" that injured one person.
A destroyed supermarket in Shebekino on June 6
It is unclear what damage seen in the Belgorod region was caused by long-distance shelling, and what may have been a result of anti-government Russian militants entering the region from Ukraine.
An armored vehicle is seen in the Ukrainian border town of Vovchansk, around 12 kilometers from Russia’s Shebekino, on June 5.
Ethnic Russian militants using Western-supplied Ukrainian equipment have made repeated incursions into the Belgorod region in recent days.
A Russian military helicopter is seen above Shebekino on June 6.
Both the Russian military and anti-Kremlin Russian militants have made conflicting claims about who controls various Russian towns near the border with Ukraine.
Smoke rises above Shebekino, as seen from the city of Belgorod on June 7.
Russian journalist Igor Yakovenko told Current Time that Russian President Vladimir Putin "is not in control of the situation in the Belgorod region." He added that, amid the rise of competing armed factions, "we are talking about the birth of unrest in Russia."
Damage in Shebekino on June 6
Western officials have repeatedly called for Ukrainian forces to avoid attacking Russian territory amid the Kremlin’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.