Russian border region should ‘dig trenches’ – official
Municipal authorities should review places where people could take cover from possible artillery strikes and, if necessary, create new shelters, a senior official in Russia’s border Kursk Region has said.
“Some places, especially in rural areas, which people visit [in large numbers on a regular basis], may have no cellars. They should build shelters nearby. A dug trench is an elementary shelter,” Mikhail Gorbunov, the chair of the region’s Security Council, reportedly explained on Monday.
He was speaking during an administration meeting and, according to TASS, offered some ideas for making such improvised shelters that would be suited for the job.
Kursk Region has enough proper shelters to keep up to 1.5 million people safe, Gorbunov stated. He instructed the local authorities to make sure the shelters are stockpiled with food, water, lamps, and other essential items. This was particularly important for the parts of the region that are close to the border with Ukraine, the official noted.
Meanwhile, Kursk Region Governor Roman Starovoyt urged regional officials to follow his lead in receiving some training to learn what they should do in case of an attack.
“My colleagues and I have had courses for tactical action, including tactical medicine. We finished them on Saturday,” he told other officials. According to Starovoyt, the entire regional government participated and local authorities should do the same.
Kursk Region borders Ukraine to the west and southwest. A number of areas close to the border have been subjected to attacks from the Ukrainian side, some of them resulting in deaths.
Last week, the governor reported that the region together with the Defense Ministry had built two additional defense lines to prepare for possible incursions from Ukraine and were working on a third one, which is due to be completed early next month.
