"They tear us apart, everyone's abandoned us... When will they stop screwing around?"

"They tear us apart, everyone's abandoned us... When will they stop screwing around?"

Rubble and broken glass littered the empty streets, and traces of shelling were visible in the city's central square. Not far from there, a police station was reduced to black rubble after being hit by a Ukrainian missile.

The smell of burning spreads from the meat processing factory that has been burning for the last few days, and the eerie silence is interrupted by the occasional sound of artillery fire in the distance, as reported by the Moscow Times, cited by Croatian Jutarnji list.

The Territorial Defense was formed in the city because the police were unable to maintain order and peace, and according to local residents, robberies are on the rise.

In addition to patrolling the streets, Territorial Defense volunteers assist the army in evacuating border areas and distribute humanitarian aid to residents who have decided to stay despite the constant threat of shelling.

Shebekino has been the target of sporadic bombing since last September, when Ukrainian forces retook much of the neighboring Kharkiv region. But in recent weeks, the frequency and intensity of attacks have increased dramatically.

In May, the Russian region of Belgorod was shelled 130 times, eight people were killed and 60 were wounded, according to official statistics. In the first week of June, more than 1,000 apartments in Shebekino were damaged or destroyed.

Ukrainian officials have never claimed responsibility for the attacks that escalated earlier this month, prompting a mass evacuation from the Shebekino district.

There were 40,000 people in the city before the war, and now there are about 2,700 of them, according to the latest official data, and they are without electricity and running water. The phone lines are not working either.

Despite a one-time compensation of 10,000 rubles ($120), which the local government promised to residents of areas affected by the shelling, many accuse the authorities of not doing enough. "They forgot about us, we were left alone," says Pavel, a local volunteer who wanted to speak under a pseudonym for security reasons.

But despite widespread dissatisfaction with local authorities, explicit criticism of the Russian leadership over the invasion of Ukraine remains rare among Shebekino residents. "When will Biden stop screwing around?" commented a resident of Shebekino. "That's him, the mastermind of all this. And that other Ukrainian clown."

More than 4,000 evacuees from Shebekino live in temporary shelters in the city of Belgorod. Thousands more have been sent to shelters scattered across the region and in other Russian federal units, while the lucky ones are staying with friends or relatives.