Belgorod region governor: authorities cannot enter territory of Novaya Tavolzhanka village because of non-stop shelling

Around 100 people are currently located in the Belgorod region village of Novaya Tavolzhanka, however, it is impossible to get an accurate number because of the non-stop shelling, the regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov says.

“As of today, we can’t enter [the village]. I know that around 100 people were there, as per the district head’s report, but because of the shelling of the last two days we can’t get an updated number. I hope that as soon as the situation changes we will be able to go back to convincing people to leave the village,” Gladkov explained during a live stream.

Gladkov has also promised that banks would suspend loan payments for the residents of border villages in the Belgorod region who were temporarily evacuated because of the constant shelling.

Novaya Tavolzhanka is a village in the Shebekinsky district of the Belgorod region.

Earlier, the Russian Volunteer Corps claimed that it had complete control over the village, from which all residents had been evacuated.

“The fighters of the Russian Volunteer Corps have been controlling the Novaya Tavolzhanka village for several days. I want to remind all citizens of Russia that this is not a little abandoned village — this place has a population of 5,000 people. Now it’s empty, there are only fighters of the Russian Volunteer Corps here. There’s no other government in this region,” representative of the corps Denis Nikitin (Kapustin) said.

Russia’s Defence Ministry stated earlier in the day that the army and the FSB units had thwarted attempts of “two Ukrainian groups” to enter the territory of Russia near the aforementioned village. The ministry claimed that “saboteurs” had tried “to cross the Seversky Donets River and land on the outskirts of Novaya Tavolzhanka”, but they were eliminated by air strikes and artillery fire. The ministry reported having destroyed over 10 “saboteurs” and two boats.

Furthermore, the head of the Shebekino district Vladimir Zhdanov said earlier in the day that Ukraine’s Armed Forces had launched over 70 shells from the BM-21 Grad multiple rocket launcher on the village.

On 4 June, paramilitary groups the Russian Volunteer Corps and Freedom of Russia Legion declared a new raid during which they entered the Novaya Tavolzhanka village, however they did report any casualties in their ranks.