For Russians near Ukraine border, conflict feels very close to home

Residents of the Shebekinsky district of Russia's Belgorod region, who were evacuated following recent attacks on settlements near the Russia-Ukraine border in the course of a military conflict, visit a humanitarian aid distribution centre in Belgorod, Russia, June 8, 2023. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov

RAZUMNOYE, Russia (Reuters) - Irina Markevich used to sleep in summer with her windows and balcony open at night. Nowadays she shuts them before going to bed in order to block out the sound of explosions.

The blasts - some distant, some uncomfortably close - have become a daily reality for Markevich and her neighbours in the Russian town of Razumnoye, a 35-minute drive from the border with Ukraine. So too has the occasional boom of Russian air defences directed against incoming missiles or drones.