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Russian regional governor accuses Ukraine of shelling residential building in Belgorod city, near the border with Ukraine.
Published On 12 May 2024
At least six people have been killed and 20 others injured after a building collapsed in the Russian border city of Belgorod, according to Russian officials.
A video released by the Russian Ministry of Civil Defence, Emergencies and Disaster Relief on Sunday showed firefighters and rescuers working on a huge pile of rubble. The ministry said that six bodies had been recovered from the rubble.
“The number of injured, according to the latest data, is 20 people,” emergency services were quoted as saying by the Russian state news agency TASS.
Earlier, the Emergencies Ministry said that 12 people, including two children, were rescued from the site.
Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov posted a video to Telegram showing a collapsed building with a large hole in it.
“Following direct shell fire on a residential building… the entire entrance, from the tenth to the ground floor, collapsed,” Gladkov said, condemning “massive bombings” by the Ukrainian army.
There was no immediate comment from Ukraine’s military.
One resident told the Russian news agency RIA Novosti she was in a building corridor and her husband was in a bedroom when the explosion hit.
“He did not have the time [to escape],” she said, adding that her husband had been injured in the head and face.
Air raid alerts continued across Belgorod as rescuers worked, looking for victims in the rubble.
The Russian Ministry of Defence later wrote on social media that the building had been damaged by fragments of a downed Tochka-U TRC missile. It also said that air defences had shot down several more rockets over the Belgorod region, as well as two drones that were destroyed in a separate incident.
The Belgorod region, on Russia’s western border, has been the target of a large number of strikes.
Although most cross-border shelling is seen in rural areas, attacks have also been seen on the Belgorod region’s capital, Belgorod city, which came under fire on Saturday evening, killing one person and injuring 29 more, Governor Gladkov said on social media. In December 2023, shelling in the heart of the city killed 25 people, prompting authorities to start erecting public shelters.
Cities across western Russia have come under regular attack from drones since May 2023, with Russian officials blaming Kyiv.
Ukrainian officials have not acknowledged responsibility for attacks on Russian territory or on the Crimean Peninsula.
