Residents of a Russian town on the border with Ukraine frantically evacuated Thursday as several buildings went up in flames from what local authorities described as attacks carried out by Ukrainian forces. A building housing a dormitory was set ablaze and the city administration building was among the sites said to have been damaged in Shebekino, local authorities said. Footage from the scene showed flames and black smoke flooding the sky from one of the buildings that was apparently hit. Just hours earlier, pro-Ukraine Russian paramilitaries seeking to “liberate” the country from Vladimir Putin announced they were about to carry out the “second phase” of attacks on Russian territory. “Everything is tense in the city. Bombs are still flying over us. We haven’t slept for several nights. Buildings are destroyed in the city, there are burnt cars, people are leaving the city by personal transport,” one local woman said in a video shared in a community group on VK. Belgorod Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov also confirmed that a drone had exploded in the center of the region’s administrative center, leaving two people injured. Putin, meanwhile, was in his bunker discussing his sleep schedule with children as part of a virtual meeting to mark Children’s Day.
