Evacuation at the border: A town’s struggle amid Russian threats
After warnings that the Russians are planning an attack in the Sumy region of Ukraine, a 10-kilometre-wide zone along the border was evacuated. Almost everyone has left Białopole. The city has come to a standstill, waiting for the offensive.
19 May 2024 15:06
After attacks on the Kharkiv region, the Russian army plans to launch a major assault near Sumy, northwest of Kharkiv. Kyrylo Budanov, the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine (HUR), provided this information.
Białopole is one of those towns from which almost all residents have left due to continuous shelling and the threat of a new offensive.
That is why the regional defence council decided to evacuate residents voluntarily. The mayor of Białopole said that the critical moment for the city was April 8, when intense bombing and artillery shelling began.
Local newspaper editor Natalia Kalnychenko explains that another decisive moment for the residents was the evacuation of Ryzhivka village this spring - the Russians did not leave a single house undamaged there. People evacuated under extreme conditions, under fire from shells and drones.
Białopole under fire. "People are afraid to go out on the streets"
The administration has organized evacuations to Kyiv, Dnipro, Poltava, Kharkiv, and the Kharkiv region for residents who cannot leave alone. Many of them seek help finding accommodation near Białopole, where they could stay for a month or a few weeks "until the situation stabilizes," Zarko explains.
According to the mayor of Białopole, after two years of war, 10-15% of the 16,500 residents remain in the town. Most of them are elderly.
Zarko explains how the residents think about staying behind - they were born there and prefer to die there. Here are their graves, their gardens. But for example, one day, a 95-year-old neighbour approached him and said she wanted to evacuate. Moods are different, but the overwhelming majority, of course, want to leave.
One of the residents of Białopole said that the town is now empty because people are afraid to go out on the streets due to the threat of shelling. Supermarkets are not operating, and ATMs are not being refilled. Pensions are delivered via a mobile point. Hospitals are scheduling appointments on a short-term basis, and pharmacies are open for a few hours a day. Białopole has come to a standstill, waiting for the offensive.
