First missile alert in Bryansk Oblast: residents complain of locked bomb shelters

At around 10 p.m. on November 5, a missile threat alert was broadcast in Bryansk, with TV channels displaying a message urging residents to head to basements or seek refuge in windowless rooms. The alert lasted 15 minutes.

However, Bryansk residents took to social media to voice frustrations over locked basements and safe rooms:

"Why the hell do we even have these shelters if they’re always locked, and we have to run around the building to find whoever has the keys? This is utter nonsense!"

"Who decides which places we’re supposed to go to for safety? There’s a notice on my building saying the shelter is in another building fenced off—are people supposed to jump over the fence to get in?"

"There are no safe places at all where we live. We have a basement in our building, but it floods often. Where and how are we supposed to hide?"

City Hall has not publicly responded to residents’ complaints.

Guidelines with shelter addresses and instructions for handling missile attacks appeared in the border city of Bryansk in the summer of 2022. Around that time, City Hall held a contest for the best bomb shelter, with winners announced six months later. By June 2024, authorities stated that more than 147,000 secure locations had been created in the region, and a month later, they published a map of these locations in Bryansk.

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