Abandoned

Residents of the village of Bezimeno in the Belgorod Region are subjected to the Armed Forces of Ukraine daily, but neither firefighters, nor the Ministry of Emergencies, nor doctors go to them

- And the Ukrainian flag did not bother us. High hangs for God. If only we were not bombed! And let anything hang, ”says Galina, a resident of the village of Bezimeno of the Grailoronsky district of the Belgorod region, and all the villagers agree with her.

The blue-yellow canvas a month ago with the help of a drone hoisted the Ukrainian military on the tower of communication in the non-Meneno tower. - And our hot guys first shot on the flag from machine guns, then tried to burn the flag. But in the end, they burned the tower, and now everything sat down without communication, ”the woman spreads her hands. These people are very tired of the war. Daily arrivals and shelling from Ukraine, burning and destroyed houses, wounded and killed civilians - these are the everyday life of the border villages of the Belgorod region over the past three months (since the Russian troops decided to move in the Kharkov direction, here - 60 km from Kharkov - life has become even more dangerous). People asked for protection since May - from the leadership of the district, the region, the Ministry of Defense. They did not interrogate. “How much human blood is needed for Moscow to hear us? Children are dying, and Moscow does not care? Where is the protection of the entire territory of the region? Where is the safety of people? Why are peaceful citizens kill? Putin lied to us when he took office of the President of the Russian Federation? " - The local resident Larisa asks questions. Her neighbors sigh in the village. Everyone would like to know the answers. The residents of the Grainoronsky district of the Belgorod region, brought to the extreme degree of despair, brought to the extreme degree of despair, on July 12, on July 12, directly turned to Russian President Vladimir Putin. From the presidential administration they promised to consider the appeal in September. Instead of answering, protection and assistance, the authors of the petition, and with them everyone else, waited for another reaction from the local authorities. In 14 settlements of the Belgorod region on the border of Russia and Ukraine, due to the “extremely difficult operational situation” from July 23, by decision of the operational headquarters of the region, the entry was limited. The emergency mode was not announced. No one was relocated. They did not provide new housing. They did not care about people. They simply cut off from the world of residents of 14 villages and villages, who already could not shout to anyone and tell about their troubles. Now their chances of being heard even less. A few days before the entry restriction, the correspondent of Novaya Gazeta - Baltic visited one of the border villages - Bezimeno.

The text was first published on the website of Novaya Gazeta - Baltic

Gray zone

Bezimeno is a small village on the border of Russia and Ukraine. The farthest distance to the adjacent state here is 7 km, the smallest is 300 meters. The border is so close that the civilian population is seen with the Russian military every day.

- The military says: we are ashamed. It’s a shame that the village is on, you are beaten, scorch, and we can’t do anything, ”says Galina.

“It prohibits the military command,” explains the pensioner Peter. - Details do not disclose us. But we think: you can’t find yourself warriors, otherwise it will fly more strongly on the village.

- Nobody protects us! Nobody! We have no one! - Tatyana's elderly villager waits.

“No,” the same elderly man objects to her, “there are warriors, but they do not answer.” The military said: drones fly from the territory of Ukraine, and we have nothing to knock them down. Well, what is it?

“We are all hunters here, we have guns, we can pass them on to the military,” adds Peter.

“We have been helping our fighters from the first day of the war,” Galina continues. - We know that they either lack cartridges, then bread, then water ...

Two competing versions “There are no order” and “No ammunition” are discussed at every dispute of the villagers about the absence of protection. Hot discussions end with the only conclusion, this time Galina makes it:

- In general, they abandoned the population. Threw the village. And the district ...

There are only two long streets in Bezimeno, they go in parallel - Oktyabrskaya (a little further from the front line) and Pervomaiskaya (closer to the line of fire). About three thousand people lived here half a century ago. Under the Soviet regime, how the inhabitants boast, "the village flourished" and "fed the country."

“We had a huge collective farm“ Friendship ”: cowsheds, calfs, pig farm, sheepflacement, two poultry farms,” Lists the old -timer Alexei. - There were tractor brigades. In the fleet where I worked, there were 254 cars on the go. In the nineties, gas was held in the village. Then many young families lived here. Two schools, four kindergartens worked.

The collective farm ceased to exist at the beginning of the zero. With his death, the wilting of the village began. The same picture as everywhere in Russia.

Nevertheless, until February 2022 - before the start of a full -scale war in Ukraine - Bezimeno lived quite well: more than three hundred private houses (each with a huge household plot and auxiliary farm) and one three -story building, a large school, a children's garden, a first -aid post, three stores, a village council and a church. Today, out of three hundred houses, more than a hundred have already burned out completely. Even more broken. And from the objects of infrastructure in the village, only the church survived. But services no longer go through it. On the night of July 14, two drones defeated the house of the rector of the temple - the father of the novel, and together with his family he was forced to leave both the destroyed dwelling and the parish. On July 5, the last store closed in Bezimeno (the other two burned down earlier): the goods were over, and it is impossible to bring fresh products to the village.

“Scary,” the owner of the store admits. - As much as we could, until the last, they drove bread here. But if earlier, drones began to fly somewhere at 10-11 in the morning, now they are flying at 5-6 hours. And at night too.

Hunger in the village has not yet come, but bread, milk and meat are already in a shortage. The secrets of the survival of the Bezmens are simple:

- We eat what grows on Earth. The fact that they managed to buy in the store before closing.

- Who has any stocks. Someone has an economy. Everyone has gardens.

The economy is chickens and ducks. Almost no one in the village no longer holds pigs and cows. It is impossible to fall, it is easy to lose in an instant.

“They sent all their thinness to the meat for a penny,” complains a local resident Natalya. - Just to hand over. There is nowhere to graze. Drones fly everywhere. And also, maybe we will tick at any moment ourselves.

In many border villages, people speak Surzhik-mixed Russian-Ukrainian. For centuries, two peoples lived nearby and did not just go to visit, but studied, were friends, married, met troubles and holidays.

Until the full -scale invasion of Ukraine, more than 800 people lived in Bezimeno. By June of this year (when residents of the Grevoronsky district sent a letter with prayers for help in the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation) the population of the village decreased to 300. On July 10, 130 people remained in Bezimeno, by July 15 - already 106.

“They just survive people from here,” expresses a common opinion, a resident of Bezimeno Marina. - They are waiting for everyone to be buried, overwhelmed - or residents themselves will leave from hopelessness.

“When Putin said:“ We will make a gray zone, ”we thought that it would be in Ukraine,” adds Marina Dmitry’s companion, “but it turned out that the gray zone was made of us.”

"Are we not Russia?"

In recent months, you can get to Bezimeno only early in the morning, at four hours, has not yet dawn, or late in the evening, when it has already grown dark. And then only if there is a daredevil, ready to take, and if the drones have already flown up and quietly in the village. This is a precaution, but not a guarantee. Almost at any time on the road can overtake a drone or sniper. People from Bezimeno to Grainoron go by cars in case of emergency-if someone was injured, when there is nothing at all, etc.

In the machines, no one is fastened with seat belts: they do not save here, but interfere. When the danger threatens, you need to jump out of the cabin quickly, in 1-2 seconds, and the belts are detained. The traffic cops understand this and do not punish this belts. If the car is catching up with the drone, local drivers increase speed to the limit. For excess is fined, but life is more expensive.

In Belgorod, people drive cars, buses, trolleybuses, minibuses, in the region - everything is different. Even in Gravoron on the roads is empty. And all the inhabitants of the border regions of the Belgorod region from preschool children (although you meet children extremely rarely here) up to 70–80-year-old old people moved to bicycles.

In the forest on the edge of the village, where I meet with the hopeless people, almost all of them, thirty people, also rolled on bicycles. They took out old, rusty from the garages and sheds, it seemed to be more useful for 30–40 years for 30–40 years.

“You are brave. Not a single journalist has come here yet, ”the residents of Bezimeno say and through one thank - not for their help, but for the hope that they will be heard, they will pay attention to.

- Can I ask a question? - the old man in a shirt with a vest and hat asks shyly. - Why do our problems do not rise on central television? Everything is fine everywhere. Very good. It is disgusting to watch. When they flew to Sevastopol, they showed all the channels, but on the same day it flew to us, and there were also dead, but on television no one said anything about Belgorod. All the time they talk about Russia, and we are not Russia?

“All numbers are underestimated, all data,” the young man with a notebook picks up. -Even our governor Gladkov says: two or three houses were damaged, there are no injured, but in fact-five or seven houses burned down and there are wounded. And so all the time: the information in the media is issued completely different. Not the same.

The fact that local journalists do not come to Bezimeno can still understand. The Belgorod administration, with the help of power structures, is trying to control all media outlets in the Border region. This is the first. Second: no one has canceled fear for his life.

Another thing is incomprehensible: since May, neither an ambulance, nor the Ministry of Emergencies, nor firefighters, nor the police - not one of the emergency services have gone to Bezimeno.

In mid -May, they bombed the only first -aid post in the village. The paramedic immediately left Bezimeno. And not to get an ambulance even to heart attacks and serious injuries. More than once, people with bleeding themselves got to Gravoron.

- As soon as we burned the first house, firefighters stopped driving in the village. We stew everything! - Galina shows a decisive wave of her hand that there is no hope for anyone. - They answer us right on the phone: "Guys, we have no right to leave."

“When the first -aid post and the village council burned, they were bombed at the same time,” Dmitry recalls. - I called 112 twice, and they told me: all services are notified, but in connection with such a difficult situation, firefighters will not be able to come.

- We went here, saw the wheat burned and burning fields? - asks an elderly resident of the village of Ivan.

- Everywhere in the field of fields are burning. Ukrainians scorch. And where are our firefighters?

“Firefighters told us: if they demand that we go here, we will immediately submit to the dismissal, but we won’t go,” the resident of Valentina sums up.

In June, each local resident was given a fire extinguisher, in July two sets of fire equipment were brought to the village. On this, the regional authorities calmed down: everything is - with explosions, collapses, do it yourself.

- And on the hell is it all to us? - Ivan is indignant. - There is no Brandsita, no water. How to extinguish, a fire extinguisher?! Try to climb onto the roof when a fire. They set fire to the house, how many minutes does it burn? What will you have time? What can you? This is a war. This is a war, ”he repeats with a sigh. - And since the war, then the warriors must protect us. Both firefighters and doctors should be nearby. But no one. Everyone is afraid. Only we - so brave - live here.

"Our SOS is still dead, deaf"

The brave in the borderland remains less and less. If this is the goal of power, then it achieves it cruelly, but true. Since May, according to local residents, the Armed Forces of Ukraine for Bezimeno took specifically: there is no day without arrivals and shelling. Sometimes per day in the village they burn five to seven houses. Several families immediately become homeless and poor.

“Our house stood on Oktyabrskaya Street, immediately at the entrance to the village, he fell under the attack of the Armed Forces of the Armed Forces of the Armed Forces of the Armed Forces and was destroyed,” says a young resident of Bezimeno Svetlana. - There was no house left at all, only the walls were burned. On June 11, several arrivals occurred in a row, one of the drones dropped the incendiary mixture. Parents that day, just two hours before everything happened, came to visit me (my husband and infants recently moved to Belgorod). A neighbor called: your house is on. And there was a grandmother, she was 87 years old, she is a wheelchair user. I rushed to the Ministry of Emergencies, they told me: now we, maybe we will come up with something, or maybe not. As a result, firefighters never arrived. The neighbor saved the grandmother. He heard her screams and ran to the rescue. He broke the door: everything was already blazing inside. And the parents werehed the carpet on the eve, he was soh in the yard. The neighbor wound up with this wet carpet, entered the burning house and carried his grandmother. Then he ran a second time and pulled out her wheelchair. Then the rural guys fled and began to help extinguish the house. They tried to connect the water, but due to the fact that there is no light in Craneo, then there is no pressure of water. And when the guys fought with fire, another drone flew in, and everyone began to scatter around so as not to suffer. It was not possible to put out the fire. Everything burned out: household appliances, furniture, things, documents. A cat died ... Grandmother was taken to the hospital in Belgorod. She is now there, while we have nowhere to pick her up. We take off the studio in Belgorod - 27 squares. There are six of us in this square: my parents, my 12-year-old brother, my husband and I and a five-month-old child. Now we need to prove the fact of loss of the house.

We sent a statement, photographs for examination to look, evaluate, and did something. When this happens, no one says. We have completely burned housing with an area of ​​105 squares.

And even if the house was once restored, then, except for it, we had a garage, outbuildings, gardens (four hundredths of land). Everything burned out, and no one compensates. When I look at the village now, where my childhood has passed, where every corner is familiar and where now there is nothing left, I understand that I can never return there. It's scary. But the main question now: where do we live? The family is big. You also need to pick up my grandmother from the hospital, she will not lie there forever.

“Our house burned down on July 1,” the village of Oksana shares his disaster, who also left Bezimeno. - On the eve of my mother noticed that observation drones hang over the house for forty minutes. It became clear that he would be attacked. Early in the morning, the first drone flew in and first struck the roof. The second drone poured an incendiary mixture into the attic. The next two drones flew in a row and dropped the explosives. After the second arrival, the dad grabbed the fire extinguisher, rushed to extinguish the house. The mixture burned well, it was hard to extinguish, but more or less dad coped. And then two new drones with explosives ... Only in the evening the fire was completely extinguished. The roof burned entirely, the walls are broken, all windows and doors are knocked out. You can’t live ... For some time, parents huddled in extensions on the territory of the site, prepared food at the fire. Two weeks so fanned, and then left for Grainovor.

Almost all the attacked houses in Ceremeno happened not at the same time, the most unlucky caught seven to ten days. People extinguish the house, and the next day they burn it anyway.

Pensioners Abdurakhman and Hagigat have no bicycles. Every day they pass through the village of 4 kilometers one way and back - from their son’s house to the ruins of their own.

- Our house was bombed eight times! - Hagigat grabs his head and wipes her wet eyes with her handkerchief. - The first day is two pieces, the second day - three pieces, the third day - three pieces. Eight drones fell. There were only ruins. We now live in the house of the son. But there is no son, - the woman stops hiding her tears.

The son of Abdurakhman and Hagigat died in the attack of a drone in Grailooron. In his house, everything reminds of him - it is difficult to live there with elderly parents. Believe that there is no more at home is even harder. Every day they go to look at the ashes.

Many hopeless people do not leave their housing even after the emergency. They continue to live in houses, half -hot or broken drones.

- Drones threw on our house five times. We stewed him five times, ”says Tatyana, living near the border. - On July 5, it flew four times and on July 6, he finished off. We saved us as we could!

When the drones flew and beat, hid. And then they jumped out, stewed. Fire extinguishers, water. We run, put out and tick. The house did not burn out very much, but they smashed it at all ... We now moved to the summer kitchen, we live there. It's not cold yet. There is a sofa, sleep on it. There is no light. But there is water and gas. And then thank God ...

Tatyana, by some miracle, managed to save the farm: hens and ducks walk in the yard. And she - the only one in the village - did not score and did not pass the cow for meat.

- I hide it in the forest. She grazes there. I come, I will. Until now, smart cattle. We are not starving, I still feed the trips of neighbors, - Tanya smiles.

- And the yak live in the house? - argues the pensioner Dmitry. - The roof is broken, the walls too. We settled in the garage near the house. We flew to us on July 1 in half the first night, ”the man recalls. - My wife and I slept. So, - his hands throw up up, - the beds flew up. One drone struck the roof. The second fell near the house. И пламя поднялось выше деревьев. Ночью я ходил, смотрел, не нашел ничего. А утром полез шланг протягивать, чтобы огород полить, и нашел вот такую взрывчатку, — широко разводит руками. — Военным отнес. Они переполошились: ни в коем случае нельзя такое трогать! Ну а кто ее с огорода уберет? А на другой день я во дворе чистил картошку, — продолжает мужчина. — Дрон пролетел, меня увидел, развернулся и на меня таран. Я по сторонам: куда? Where? В сарай дверь была открыта, я туда, и дрон за мной, но он там за что-то зацепился и упал. У него аккумулятор отвалился. Потом саперы приехали, вытащили этот дрон на улицу, и он там лежит до сих пор.

Жить нельзя выехать

Причин, по которым безыменцы не бросают родные места, хоть отбавляй: умрет от жажды и голода живность, засохнут огороды и не будет урожая. Если дом загорится, то наверняка целиком сгорит — тушить никто не примчится. Те, кто мог все бросить и уехать из Безымено, те, кому было куда, кроме ПВР (пункты временного размещения) — к родственникам, друзьям, знакомым, — уже покинули село. Но многим совершенно некуда податься, не на что снимать жилье. Да и без своих участков не прокормиться.

— А почему мы должны выезжать? — к пенсионеру Дмитрию подходит жена Тамара. — Мы родились здесь. Grew up. Вся жизнь здесь прошла. На здешнем кладбище все наши предки лежат. Куда нам выезжать? We are at home. На своей границе. Но почему украинцы ее контролируют? Почему беспилотники так безнаказанно летают стаями и сжигают все? Мы точно побеждаем?

— Предлагают выезжать в ПВР, сидеть там друг у друга на головах, — ругается Валентина, дом которой в Безымено пока цел. — А кто хочет, если здесь у каждого хозяйство, огороды? Кто хочет все нажитое бросать? Nobody! А если снимать квартиру, то на что жить? Компенсации есть на бумаге, а на деле — поди попробуй получи! И работы нет. На что людям жить?

Вместо обещанных компенсаций за аренду жилья (10 тысяч в месяц — обычной семье, 15 тысяч — многодетной) многие жители Белгородской области, рискнувшие выехать на съемные квартиры в Грайворон либо Белгород, получили от чиновников отписки: «Не положено, доступ в населенный пункт есть». Поскольку режим ЧС не объявлен даже в приграничье, то когда дело доходит до выплат, чиновники упираются в формальности и забывают про реальность.

— Выезжать отсюда мы не хотим, — объясняет Галина.

— Нам некуда. This is the first. А второе — с чем мы останемся потом? Дадут нам 100 тысяч, если все сгорит. А что я за 100 тысяч куплю? Если дом спалят, мы с мужем — бомжи. Бомжи! У нас никого нет. Мы просим защиты или нормальной помощи.

Социальные выплаты, предусмотренные для жителей Белгородской области, рассчитывались, видимо, исходя из нормативов и цен прошлого века. Компенсация за частично утраченное имущество (если сгорело полдома, а не дом) — 50 тысяч рублей. За полностью утраченное (если под ноль сгорело все) — 100 тысяч рублей. Однако этих денег добиться очень нелегко. Ждать очень долго. На сегодняшний день сумели единицы, но никто из них не стал новоселом: дом в Белгородской области стоит как минимум в 10–15 раз больше. Жилищные сертификаты жителям Белгородской области, потерявшим жилье за время войны с Украиной, не предлагают.

Единовременная компенсация — 10 тысяч рублей — положена всем жителям приграничья. Выплачивать ее начали только в мае. Деньги до сих пор получили не все жители региона. Но 10 тысяч — это ниже прожиточного минимума, он в Белгородской области сегодня — 12 981 рубль. Эту выплату все здесь называют «унизительной подачкой». Но на жалобы людей областные чиновники только разводят руками: не в нашей компетенции пересмотреть эти нормы.

Неоднократно убедившись, что их проблемы не решаются на уровне региона, жители Грайворонского района в июле написали о них президенту России (ниже — несколько цитат):

«Объясните нам, как законом может устанавливаться выплата в 10 000 рублей, причем единовременно? При том, что массированные ежедневные обстрелы длятся уже более 13 месяцев? Как выплата может производиться только один раз? Как выплата может быть меньше прожиточного минимума? Как жить на эти деньги?»

«За что у наших малышей отобрали детство? Спросите: каково нашим детям учиться под обстрелами, не иметь возможности ходить в школу, заниматься спортом, ходить на речку, играть с друзьями?»

«Мы, потерявшие жилье, не знаем, что дальше будет с нами. Нам не дают ответов, будут ли у нас дома? И когда это будет?»

Под обращением к Путину подписались больше трех тысяч человек. В Москву, в администрацию президента, петицию отправили с гонцом, а не почтой России. А спустя несколько дней люди очень расстроились, когда получили совершенно формальное сухое уведомление: «обращение зарегистрировано», «для объективного и всестороннего рассмотрения запрошены материалы и документы», «ответ будет направлен вам в сентябре».

Теперь жители приграничных сел и поселков Белгородской области обсуждают, что еще нужно сделать, чтобы их заметили и услышали. Есть разные идеи: новые обращения к президенту, автопробег до Москвы, голодовка на Красной площади и другие.

— Ну а как быть, если России до нас нет дела? — рассуждает один из инициаторов публичных действий Александр. - We are abandoned. Один на один со своими бедами. А мы — русские. Мы можем терпеть всё что угодно, только не безразличие. Власть сама своим отношением настраивает людей против себя. Это страшно на самом деле.

COMMENT
Редакция «Новой газеты — Балтия» направила запрос губернатору Белгородской области Вячеславу Гладкову. At the time of publication of the material, the answer was not received.

REFERENCE
По данным на сегодняшний день, с начала войны в Украине из-за военных действий на территории Белгородской области погиб 221 мирный житель. Около 1200 человек получили ранения и травмы разной степени тяжести.

По информации Министерства социальной защиты населения и труда Белгородской области, с начала 2024 года из области уехали 13,8 тысяч человек.

Автор: Анатолий Ольшанский