“The average evening began with sirens” – the Russian provincial city sees the heaviest Ukrainian drone attack in years

This not-easy-to-pronounce city, which is settled on the riverbank in the central Russia not far from the Ukrainian boarder, has once made its way into the international headlines, when Yevgeny Prigozhin nearly entered the city during his 2023 mutiny. Indeed, we have been the lucky ones so far, as good air defense has let the city escape relatively unscathed from numerous drone attacks. However, all good things must come to an end, talking of which, this must be the only reason why the war can be called a good thing.

Anyway, the attack came and went, an innocent woman was killed, and the whole thing is yesterday’s dry news. But this article is an attempt to speak about what actually stands behind the reports from the internationally condemned nowhere and how we become inured to collateral damage violence and death.

The excruciatingly average evening began with sirens, habitually not taken seriously by the locals since they are crying wolf more often than not, intimidating the Chinese students (then again, only thanks to the good air defense). This time, mind it, it was different. The brightly illuminated skating ring in the city centre, the thing many would dub “fiddling while Rome burns”, was timely evacuated, and set an alarm bell, when we heard buzzing and explosions.

My family headed to the corridor, far from the windows, escorting an old blind terrier, not at all bothered by the scene.

The hour went by. Sirens gave the floor to the ambulance, the local Telegram channels started to leak illegal footages of the strikes taregeted at commie blocks, newly erected condos, and an orthodox high school, which – no doubt – were strategic targets, hidden amidst the suburban estate.

The aftermath was well as average – one woman, a 40 y.o. Russian language teacher, was killed by the drone debris, which fell on her house, four were injured, including a woman with an abdominal wound. We were told the Investigative committee would assess the case, and the compensations would be given in a timely manner, which is a general practice giving the sense of order. From a news perspective, it is not a critical loss for a million-strong city, but I still believe 999 999 makes a stark difference.

Voronezh already saw one massive drone attack last summer, leaving 22 wounded. At a wedding of my friend (yes, they are still frequent) I got to know a person, whose flat was affected by the explosion. His newly born infant daughter’s cradle was shielded by a drawer, which bore the brunt of the strike. To the parents’ relief, the explosion only scraped the baby’s feet, while injuring three other less fortunate children in the building.

The outcome is, again, anything but mundane. The attack is described as an answer to a Russian hypersonic missile attack, which, for its part, is a retaliation to yet one more act of Ukrainian aggression-slash-defense, which goes ad infinitum back to the Adam.

As always, the compensations are paid and the court cases are filed, leaving the citizens with the haze of justice and order, behind which there is no way of seeing the end of the conflict.