It was quiet when the corpses were taken out

A report from military Belgorod, which has been living under shelling for three months

Armor on the windows, burned cars and destroyed housing - this is how Belgorod looks now. Residents of the city wear flowers to spontaneous memorials, remove fragments after shelling. Almost every day there are rocket danger signals. Recently, the Belgorodians began to write massively on federal television channels with a request to talk about what is happening in their city, but the propagandist Vladimir Solovyov called their complaints "vile hysteria." The Cold correspondent tells how everyday life is now being arranged in Belgorod.

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"Patch here", "Shelter there"

Near the department store "Belgorod" is a concrete box above human height. She appeared here recently, but the townspeople are already accustomed to passing by without holding her gaze. On the wall of the box, in large letters it is written: "Shelter."

There is nothing inside it - only on the walls the first aid instructions are hanging: what to do if a person is unconscious, how to stop bleeding, how to apply a tourniquet when “separating a limb”.

During the day in the box it is dark: light falls only through small holes under the roof. There is a switch in the shelter, but there is no light bulb - the wires only stick out of the ceiling.

In recent months, 288 such concrete boxes have been put in Belgorod. They are near the stops of transport - so that people can hide in case of rocket danger. True, some citizens say that there are too few places in shelter and more than 10 people are unlikely to fit there.

In addition to boxes, the city put fortifications around bus stops. 191 The stop is now surrounded by walls of concrete blocks, and 73 are covered with sandbags. In March, all the bags decided to replace with concrete blocks.

On the streets you can notice red signs with the inscriptions "Pharmacy here" and "A first -aid kit there." The arrows indicate the doors of shops, cafes and schools. Also, the signs of "shelter there" appeared. Often they show in the direction of residential buildings where there are equipped basements. However, during shelling people do not always manage to get there: the doors are closed. On March 20, the regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov announced that by the end of the month, about 30 thousand intercoms in the city will install “controllers”, which will automatically open the doors with a missile danger signal. At the time of this message, city services have already installed a thousand such devices.

Most of the innovations appeared in 2024, when Belgorod began to be subjected to regular shelling from Ukraine. In the Belgorod region, they took place earlier, but now shells began to hit the city center, and the number of victims has increased sharply. For the entire 2022, 25 people died in the region, for 2023 - 70. In 2024, 24 people died in only three months of shelling.

"Cars are burning quickly"

The 26-year-old resident of Belgorod Victoria says that she had never been interested in politics and news before, but after December 30 she signed up for all telegram channels about city incidents: that day the Victoria car burned down right before her eyes.

This happened when she was in the city center in the Bublik cafe - Victoria came there to work at the computer. She was already going home, but lingered to answer the message. Suddenly, explosions were heard from the outside, dissimilar to the usual work of the air defense.

“At first, everyone just looked at each other,” she says. - Then the woman screamed next to me: “Quickly everything is on the floor, this is shelling.” People reluctantly lay down. I saw through the windows that on the street everyone was running in different directions. I thought that in the city some terrorists and passers-by run away from them. ”

Victoria was worried about the child who stayed at home with a great -grandmother, and hoped to get to her apartment as soon as possible. When the explosions fell silent, she rose from the floor and went out into the street - to where her car was parked. There, Victoria saw burning cars and people lying on the ground. I had to go back to the cafe.

“I did not know where to go,” she recalls. - asked people where the nearest shelter, but no one knew. The girl ran from the street, she screamed, everyone reassured her. It turned out that it flew somewhere near the Mayak department store, where the stop. "

When Victoria got out of the cafe again, her car had already burned out. “I thought a lot about the fact that a happy accident saved me,” she says. - I know that the girl died nearby - she burned alive in the car. I always thought that a car is a safe place. But this is not so. Cars are burning very quickly. "

After that, as Victoria says, her anxiety "worsened." She tries not to visit the city center and not even drive close to him. “I am very glad when I do not hear the sounds of explosions,” she says. - When I hear them, I have one desire - to collect things and leave. I used to think that everything would be fine, it would go around us. Now I don't think so. ” Nevertheless, she is not going to leave Belgorod seriously: she says that she has “living plans” in this city.

On that day, about which Victoria talks about, 25 people were killed in Belgorod, another 128 were injured. Among them are 13 children. By the number of victims, the shelling on December 30 became the most destructive since the beginning of the war.

"Belgorod heart"

In the center of the city in the square in front of the Mayak department store, there is a plastic installation - a huge heart with the inscription "Belgorod". Inside it is a bench. Many Belgorod residents have pictures in social networks where they sit on her and smile.

In recent months, no one has been photographed here. Hundreds of roses and cloves with mourning ribbons, dozens of soft toys are laid on the bench with dense ligaments. Next to the "heart" someone laid a large plush lion.

It was here - near the department store - exploded one of the ammunition on December 30. Many citizens at this time made purchases for the New Year. Now, in front of the entrance to the store, there is a fence of concrete blocks. On it is the inscription: “Twinking Center“ Department Store Lighthouse ”works.”

The city authorities did not declare mourning for those who died either on December 30, or after other shelling. At the same time, the Governor of the Belgorod Region Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote in social networks that he sees a “large number of proposals” about this.

“Someone asks to announce the day of mourning, someone-to install a sorrower in the city center, someone as such as such a memorial suggests leaving the installation of the Belgorod Heart,” the governor said.

As a result, he promised "to make and erected a monument to all innocently killed residents of the Belgorod region as soon as possible." But so far there is no such memorial - and the townspeople continue to bring flowers and toys to the installation in the form of a heart.

"Yes, we have children scared"

The next major shelling occurred in Belgorod on February 15. Seven people died , including a one -year -old girl. The blow fell on the school stadium and the shopping center on Plekhanov Street.

“When I arrived there, I immediately saw a broken Magnit store [on the ground floor of a shopping center],” says Belgorod journalist Alina (name changed). - All the glass flew out in it. They were covered with a film from the inside, and it broke - flying around. Rescuers continued to find the bodies of people. I remembered how quietly it was when the corpses were taken out - only this film rustled. "

Soon, as Alina recalls, residents of neighboring houses began to approach. They stood at the fences and sometimes talked quietly. “Employees of the Belgorod administration appeared who bypass damaged houses,” says the journalist. -They went very actively, discussed who would go where, asked people. This contrasted with everything else: these girls seemed to be some kind of deliberately alive. "

Alina recalls how the residents of the district, gathered near the place of shelling, refused to answer the questions of the reporters: “Journalists approached one woman and asked for comments. She turned to them and very evil - apparently from fatigue and shock - replied: “Well, what can I tell you? What were my children scared and we have a“ Magnit ”? Yes, we were frightened by the children and the“ magnet ”defeated us.”

The journalist argues: “At such moments, you don’t even know what to ask people. What have you seen? They didn’t see anything. Have you heard an explosion? Yes, there was a loud explosion. Was you scared? Yes, it was scary. What else can a person say? "

After shelling on the steps of the shopping center and on the asphalt, blood flow remained. The next morning, the townspeople began to bring flowers and soft toys to this place that closed the spots. They were washed off only after a week.

On a lamppost near the store, someone painted graffiti. In a small black rectangle, the inscription: "Fight with ZLL."

"Very wounded city"

Often, after shelling at the places of destruction, volunteers of the People’s Front organization - a public movement founded by Vladimir Putin. It consists of representatives of Russian political parties and activists from different regions.

Volunteers of the "Popular Front" help to remove broken glasses and debris. Evgeny - one of these volunteers - tells how on February 15 he arrived in the vicinity of the destroyed Magnit.

“At such moments you work on the machine,” he says. -Only in the evening you begin to understand what happened, that people suffered, that someone lost their housing. You think that someone today will not be able to spend the night at home. ”

He remembered how people whose apartment suffered during the shelling began to remove debris along with volunteers. “They, like many in Belgorod, reacted to what happened as something natural,” he says. - It flew in, but, thank God, everyone is alive. Indeed, everything will be restored, but human life is not. ”

Eugene discusses how Belgorod has changed over the past few months. “A very gray and dull, very wounded city,” he says. - Previously, Belgorod was bright, sunny, colorful. Now I can’t even remember the days that we have joyful. Every time shelling occurs, day and a half people do not leave the houses. ”

According to Eugene, the townspeople themselves changed: “They believe that if they are fired, we must hit Kyiv and all cities. They do not see the world. Unfortunately, such people have been from the beginning of the war, and people are becoming angrier, and this anger does not go anywhere. ”

Although Eugene helps the “Popular Front” movement, he says that he does not want to associate himself either with this organization or with United Russia. He signed up for volunteers only because he wanted to help people. But now it seems to him that the Popular Front is more engaged in PR than a real business: “The youth wing needed to record several videos and send them to Moscow - they say, the quick response team gathered. They told how we fought heroically there, but in fact there was nothing like that, they just helped. They could have done more if the video had not been recorded most of the time. ”

"We are shown that we are in war"

From the beginning of the war, “snowflakes” from paper adhesive tape began to appear on the windows in Belgorod. It is believed that during the explosion this can protect people from small fragments. With each new shelling of “snowflakes” there are more and more. Someone just glues white strips of cross, and some almost completely sealed glass.

Now a new fortification began to appear on the windows - armored personnel. Back in 2023, she was pasted for kindergartens and schools. Then some citizens complained that the work was performed unprofessional and the film went bubbles.

Now the armored personnel can be seen on the windows of city buses, and some have sealed the windows in the apartments. Hundreds of ads are placed on Avito, where Belgorodians are offered to buy a protective film itself or order a service for its gluing. As a rule, it costs several hundred rubles.

The same service is provided on the site “Booking Windows.rf”, whose domain was registered in 2022 after the outbreak of war. It says that thanks to the film, "glass can crack and even fall out, but will not fall apart." The price of the service is not indicated - to find out, you need to leave a request.

Ivan - the manager of one of the Belgorod catering networks - also decided to strengthen the windows in the cafe with armored personnel. He says that he chose “the first one in Google” and ordered. Together with the gluing, the purchase of a film for the network of establishments cost 269 thousand rubles.

“Now the armor has risen in price,” says Ivan. - I ordered the material with a density of 200 microns. Of course, it will not save from direct hit, but it should help from fragments. ”

According to Ivan, the representative of the management company informed him that the building of one of the cafes should be strengthened with concrete blocks or sandbags. “But I said that we will not strengthen the facade with sand. This is some kind of nonsense. If we put the sand for a meter in height, it will not save, and to block the three-meter windows completely with sand-this is some kind of trash, ”Ivan explains. - I get bags and blocks even at stops, because they show us that we are in war. And if they put them on family restaurants and catering, it’s not for family, but military restaurants. ”

"There will be a second Donetsk"

Since the beginning of the war, thousands of enterprises closed in Belgorod: shops, cafes, delivery services. According to entrepreneurs, over the past few months, the situation has become even worse - especially in the field of catering and entertainment: people stopped spending leisure time outside the house.

“If earlier in a day we earned about 200 thousand rubles, now-about 140 thousand,” says Ivan. - People continue to order home delivery, but they come to restaurants less often. Previously, we could conduct children's matinees on Sundays, but now definitely not before. We had the last matinee on December 24th. ”

Timur, the owner of one of the lounge bars in Belgorod, says that from the beginning of the shelling, the proceeds have fallen more than half. “On December 30, at two to three in the afternoon we opened,” he says. - People began to make orders. This fierce shelling began, and people began to gather and leave. From that moment we have a black strip. January holidays are the most profitable days of the year. But instead of relaxing, people were sitting at home and were afraid to go out. And the landlord did not want to make concessions to us and give at least a month of rental holidays. On the contrary, he raised the rent. ”

Some regular customers, according to Timur, left the city in recent months: someone to the village, and someone abroad. Now the entrepreneur is trying to introduce “anti -crisis measures” - to strengthen advertising and SMM in order to try to attract new customers from those who are still in the city.

Timur says that other entrepreneurs encountered the same problems. “One of the competitors has already left the city,” he says. - All establishments in Belgorod are semi -empty, many are trying to sell business. People are scared for themselves, for children. At this pace, the city will die soon. There will be a second Donetsk. Only pensioners will remain, who got to the place. Those who have something to lose will leave. ”

According to Timur, the city authorities could help small business survive difficult times. But so far there were no such sentences either to him or acquaintances.

“I do not ask much, but in order for at least some support,” he argues. - Maybe the authorities could help with utility bills. For example, only this month I paid for 20 thousand rubles of a communal apartment. It would be easier for me if they at least compensated for it. ”

"Do not close during the day"

Ukrainian media write that attacks on Belgorod are an answer to Russia's actions : December 29, before shelling in Belgorod, the Russian army produced more than 100 missiles in Ukraine, 58 civilians died.

On December 30, after blows to Belgorod, the Russian Ministry of Defense said that this was "not unpunished." On the same day, Russia inflicted a series of blows to Kharkov. 26 people were injured . Russian media stated that “decision -making centers and military facilities were amazed.”

At the same time, according to many Belgorodians, the Russian state media do not pay enough attention to what is happening in their region. Recently, people massively write comments in the publics of federal channels with a hashtag #Belgorod edition and ask to talk about what is happening in the city.

TV presenter Vladimir Solovyov spoke out on this subject: he called complaints about shelling "vile tantrums." After that, in VKontakte they began to call him to live in Belgorod and publish photos of destruction. As a result, the propagandist closed comments on his page.

Meanwhile, in Belgorod, sirens that warn about rocket danger are heard almost every day. City telegram channels send notifications with a request to stay at home and not approach the windows.

В один из таких моментов, когда звучит сирена, люди на улице ускоряют шаг — ищут укрытия. Прохожий неподалеку прижимается к стене и смотрит в небо.

Ближайшее убежище — подвал жилого дома. На двери видна полустертая надпись, сделанная белым мелом: «Не закрывайте днем». The door is closed.