Governor of Belgorod requests funds for 700 shelters against Ukrainian drones
Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of Russia’s Belgorod region, has appealed to the federal government for funding to build 700 modular shelters to protect against Ukrainian drones and missiles. He shared this in his Telegram channel.
According to Gladkov, once funding is received, it will be immediately directed to producing the shelters, which are planned to be installed along the region’s roughly 300-kilometer border. Dozens of shelters, funded from off-budget sources, have already begun installation in the Grayvoron district.
Since the start of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, Belgorod has been one of the most affected border regions. Local authorities report that the area regularly comes under attack.
Over four years of aerial strikes in the region, at least 429 people have died. In the first two months of 2026 alone, more than 30 people were killed and over 240 injured. Gladkov noted that these figures are three times higher than the same period last year. In January–February 2026, over 1,000 residential buildings were damaged—roughly the same as the total for the previous year.
Earlier, First Deputy Governor Ilya Ponomaryov estimated that restoring just the border areas of Belgorod would cost 157.4 billion rubles.
Powerful explosions were reported at the Belbek airfield in Crimea.
Drones also attacked the Ilsky Oil Refinery and Sevastopol.
