A Russian warplane accidentally fired a weapon into the city of Belgorod near Ukraine, late Thursday (April 20), causing a blast which resulted in damage to nearby buildings, said the Russian news agency, TASS, citing the country’s defence ministry. According to media reports citing officials, the incident has also injured at least two people.
“At around 22:15 (10:15 pm) Moscow time on April 20, when a Su-34 plane of the Russian Aerospace Forces was performing a flight above the city of Belgorod, an emergency release of an air ordnance occurred,” the Russian Defence Ministry was quoted as saying by TASS. Meanwhile, an investigation into the incident is also underway.
According to the media report, the defence ministry had also confirmed that an unspecified number of buildings were damaged following the accidental discharge of aviation ammunition and confirmed that there were no casualties. The Su-34 is a supersonic fighter-bomber jet.
The defence ministry did not say which weapon was involved. Meanwhile, Belgorod region governor Vyacheslav Gladkov announced a state of emergency, on Thursday, confirming the blast, on the messaging app Telegram and said that there was a crater measuring 20 metres across one of the main streets in the Russian city.
The governor also said four cars and four apartment buildings were damaged, as per Reuters, adding two women were injured. The video footage of the site shows piles of concrete on the street, several damaged cars and a building with broken windows, reported the news agency, adding that one footage also showed what appeared to be a car upside down on the roof of a store.
Notably, the Belgorod region is one of the several parts of southern Russia which has reportedly witnessed explosions with targets being the fuel and ammunition stores since the beginning of what Moscow calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine which began in February, last year.
(With inputs from agencies)
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