Russia
While the “governor” claims the streets in flooded Kherson are quiet, the Russian city of Shebekino is emptying under heavy shelling
When Vladimir Saldo tried to spread a sense of calm in the flooded front-line towns and villages of the Russian-held Kherson region, he failed miserably.
Sitting in front of the flooded remains of downtown Nova Kakhovka, clad in camouflage and helmet, the Kremlin-installed “governor” claimed the city was “alive.”
“People are walking the streets quietly,” Saldo said as the flood waters climbed the walls of City Hall behind him. “I just drove through the streets, people are working, gas stations are open, some shops are open.”
The reality of the catastrophe played out around him: people were stranded on the roofs of their houses and apartments and begged that those with boats would come and rescue them. Dozens are missing and entire towns are washed away downstream. And it is reported that Russian troops blocked access to frontline towns on the left bank of the Dnipro River by establishing new checkpoints, even as flood waters continued to rise.
Kakhovka Dam flooding before and after: satellite images show the extent of the disaster in Ukraine
“Everyone is left to their own devices, there is no organized evacuation,” said Gleb, a Nova Kakhova resident who was looking for ways to get out of town.
As an expected counter-offensive by Ukraine looms, Russia’s front lines appear to be in serious disarray as mismanagement on the ground, military infighting and callous disregard seem to point to serious problems as war threatens to come home for Russia.
If Russia bears responsibility for the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam, as many suspect, it is an act of extreme desperation that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has equated with an “environmental bomb of mass destruction.”
Ukrainian security forces in a boat during an evacuation from a flooded area in Kherson. Photo: Aleksey Filippov/AFP/Getty Images
Weeks before the waters of the Dnipro River unleashed on the town south of Nova Kakhovka, there were signs that Russia was dangerously stretched along potential front lines for a Ukrainian counteroffensive.
In Russia’s border region of Belgorod, Russian troops have all but abandoned a number of small towns and villages as irregular Ukrainian-backed insurgent groups conduct cross-border raids. Once a sideshow, the paramilitaries, including many Russians with far-right connections fighting the Kremlin, have managed to seize and hold territory inside Russia.
Shebekino, a Russian town of about 45,000 people, has effectively become a frontline town and has been heavily shelled, with all but about 500 residents fleeing the border area.
“The city is empty, there are signs of destruction everywhere, there are no soldiers,” Oleg, a volunteer who traveled to the city to deliver food and medicine, told the Guardian. “They are completely devastated, it’s hard to think rationally in this stress. Even worse is the lack of water and light.”
“We left everything behind,” Olga, who has lived with her husband in Shebekino for 40 years, told the Guardian from an emergency shelter in Belgorod. “We feel that nobody is protecting us.”
The Russian Volunteer Corps, an anti-Kremlin militia, claimed they had captured Novaya Tavolshanka, one of the largest villages in the region. It had even taken prisoners, including a 23-year-old cook from the Pskov region who said he was a mobilized soldier. Vyacheslav Gladkov, the region’s governor, admitted on Monday that Russian troops “cannot reach the village,” confirming that they temporarily lost control of a Russian town. The border area appears largely unprotected in many respects.
“It’s a big question why the National Guard doesn’t take care of everything here. It’s her job to protect the border areas and it’s totally unclear why she’s not there,” said Dara Massicot, a senior policy researcher at RAND who specializes in Russian military strategy. “If Russia has to use the military to protect its borders, it would be a great embarrassment. The National Guard has armored equipment and about 300,000 men; where are these people?”
People evacuated from Shebekino receive humanitarian aid in Belgorod. Photo: Maxim Shemetov/Portal
Reporters working in Shebekino described conditions similar to those in the frontline towns in Russian-occupied Ukraine, noting that war had never been closer. “It’s very unusual to wear a body armor and a helmet in ancient Russia,” said Maryana Naumova, a Kremlin-affiliated journalist who visited Shebekino this week.
Those involved in evacuations reported receiving little or no help from authorities, who were conspicuously absent from dealing with the commotion near the border.
“The situation in Shebekino is bad,” Sergei Apanasenko, a resident, told the Guardian. “I have evacuated 20 people since last week. One has the feeling that the people are forgotten and the authorities do not help with the evacuation. We have to do everything ourselves.”
Propaganda experts have gone on TV to calm the populace. Margarita Simonyan, the head of state-funded broadcaster RT, called the cross-border raids “information attacks” designed to foment panic and said they “worked with a lot of people I know.”
“It’s being done so that we can all see these frightening pictures that the war is already on our territory,” she said. When asked why the army hasn’t launched a serious counterattack yet, she said: “I don’t know when, I’m not our army, I can only pray.”
Inside the city, locals are so desperate that many are beginning to call for Yevgeny Prigozhin, the warlord close to Putin, to take charge of the defense.
“Shebekino is destroyed. It feels like Moscow has forgotten that Shebekino is Russia. We want Prigozhin to come and help us,” Evgeny, a local who also shared a post with the caption #Prigozhinhelpus, told the Guardian.
Prigozhin himself had raised his hand to enter the city, continuing a longstanding feud with the Russian army over ammunition distribution and general warfare. “If the Ministry of Defense does not stop what is happening in the Belgorod region … where Russian territory is actually being conquered, then of course we will arrive,” he said in an audio message released by his press service.
“We will defend … the Russian people and all who live there.”
Destroyed vehicles after a reported Ukrainian shelling in Shebekino in May. Photo: Governor of Belgorod Region/Portal
Prigozhin has increasingly snubbed and mocked the military leadership for failing to stop drone strikes on Moscow last week and for recently showing video of the alleged destruction of a Leopard tank, which he says looked more like a Ukrainian combine harvester .
In the greatest sign of division, Wagner troops beat and humiliated a serving Russian officer in command of the 72nd Brigade for allegedly ordering his soldiers to fire on a Wagner convoy. Cracks in Russia’s war machine have widened as Wagner withdrew his positions in Bakhmut after spending eight months taking the city, leaving regular troops to guard the front lines while his mercenaries could attempt to capture the first to evade blows from Ukraine’s forthcoming counteroffensive.
“The Russian army will now be really put to the test, they won’t be able to hide behind Wagner like in Bakhmut,” said Marat Gabidullin, a former Wagner mercenary who knows Prigozhin. He has written a memoir about his time in the paramilitary organization.
“Prigozhin has built a very strong personal brand. He has positioned himself as the leader of the silent majority, which is not heard. Many trust him more than the Department of Defense. They see Prigozhin as their savior.”
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