MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian forces said a bomb accidentally dropped from one of their military planes caused a powerful explosion in a Russian town near the Ukrainian border, injuring and terrorizing two locals. Â
Belgorod, a city of 340,000 people located about 40 kilometers east of the Russian-Ukrainian border, has been regularly attacked by drones during Russia’s current military operations in Ukraine. Russian officials have blamed the Ukrainian military for the previous attacks, but the Ukrainian military has not directly claimed responsibility for the attacks.
The blast late Thursday was the most powerful the residents of Belgorod had ever experienced. Witnesses reported a low hissing sound followed by an explosion that shook nearby apartments and shattered windows. A 20-meter (66-foot) wide crater was left in the middle of a tree-lined street lined with apartment buildings, and several cars were damaged and cars were thrown onto the roofs of shops. Two people were injured and a third was hospitalized with high blood pressure, officials said.
In the immediate aftermath of the explosion, Russian commentators and military bloggers flocked with theories about the weapons Ukraine used in the attack, many of them calling for harsh retaliation.
But about an hour later, the Russian Defense Ministry admitted that a gun accidentally fired from one of its Su-34 bombers caused the explosion. The ministry did not provide further details, but military experts said the weapon was likely a powerful 500-kilogram bomb.
Military experts claimed that the weapon appeared to be set to detonate after a short delay to allow it to strike underground facilities.
Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said local authorities had the nine-story apartment building inspected to ensure it had not suffered any structural damage that endangered life inside. said it had decided to temporarily relocate its residents. Following news that local authorities were dealing with the aftermath of the blast, a Russian state TV host said: “With modern weapons, Russian forces have been able to keep militants from minimal range in the field of military special operations. It can be ruled out,” he said. The presenter seemed visibly confused by the text he had just read.
Russian commentators questioned why the fighter jets flew over Belgorod and urged the military to avoid such dangerous overflights in the future.
The bomb mistakenly dropped on Belgorod may have been part of a modified ammunition with wings, removing the GPS-guided targeting system that allowed it to glide to targets tens of kilometers (miles) away. Some argue that the Russian Air Force only recently started using such glide bombs, and some experts say they may be susceptible to jamming. increase.
In October, a Russian fighter jet crashed near a house in the Azov Sea port city of Yeysk, killing 15 people. Yeysk is home to a large Russian air force base and fighter jets fly over Ukraine.
Military experts note that as the number of Russian military flights in combat increased, so did the number of crashes and misfires.
In another fatal incident in the Belgorod area, two volunteers opened fire on Russian troops at a military firing range, killing 11 and wounding 15 before being shot dead.
