Russian Authorities Announce Evacuation of Children Amidst Conflict in Belgorod Region

Thus, the authorities of the Belgorod region announced the evacuation of 200 children to the Penza region and plan to evacuate another 600 children to the Kaluga and Yaroslavl regions on June 3.

Some Russian bloggers have used the situation in the Belgorod region to criticize the Russian leadership, while others have argued that the limited raids are a harbinger of Ukrainian counter-offensives.

Key takeaways from ISW:

• Russian troops launched a series of missile strikes on Ukraine on the night of May 31-June 1 and in the afternoon of June 1.
• Units of the Russian Volunteer Corps and the Legion “Freedom of Russia” conducted another raid in the Belgorod region.
• Chechen commanders and officials launched a joint information attack on the head of Wagner PMC Yevgeny Prigozhin.
• Prigozhin responded to the attacks by saying that he would continue to speak his mind until Russian Defense Ministry officials were punished for mistakes in planning an invasion of Ukraine.
• Chechen attacks on Prigozhin’s personality may be part of the Kremlin’s efforts to discredit and undermine Prigozhin’s position as his troops withdraw from the front lines.
• Russian troops conducted offensive operations northeast of Kupyansk and northwest of Svatovo.
• The pace of Russian and Ukrainian offensive operations in the Bakhmut direction remains low as of June 1, with Russian troops inflicting limited ground strikes on the Avdiivka-Donetsk line.
• The Russian occupation authorities have announced that regional elections in the occupied territories will be held on 10 September.

The situation in the Belgorod region of the Russian Federation

The Russian authorities have once again announced massive shelling of the border town of Shebekino in the Belgorod region. The border town of Shebekino has recently been under frequent shelling, in which local authorities constantly blame the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Note that Ukraine categorically denies involvement in such attacks.

Read more about what is happening in the Belgorod region in the material RBC-Ukraine – “New raid and Shebekino on fire. What is happening in the Belgorod region.”