Incident Details
Russia mistakenly bombed its own territory near Ukraine’s border while targeting Kharkiv. Open-source intel and Ukrainian media reported a Russian aircraft bombing Belgorod.
Background
According to sources, Russia unintentionally bombed its area near the Ukrainian border while launching strikes on the city of Kharkiv.
Recent Events
On Saturday, open-source intelligence accounts and Ukraine-aligned media reported that a Russian aircraft conducting guided glide-bomb attacks in the northeastern Ukrainian city Kharkiv mistakenly released munitions on Belgorod. This city has experienced significant spillover from the ongoing conflict.
Official Statements
Russia has admitted to attacking parts of eastern Ukraine that it controls as well as its territory. Former interior ministry adviser Anton Gerashchenko said that a guided bomb “fell right on a residential sector and exploded.” Russia had launched “almost 70 guided aerial bombs against our border communities and positions at the front” the day before, according to a statement made by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday.
Impact and Casualties
Five persons were injured in an explosion that occurred in the city of Belgorod on Saturday, according to Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of the Belgorod region. He stated that there were no casualties and that 30 houses and 10 automobiles had been destroyed, but he did not provide any more details on the explosion’s cause.
Pattern of Attacks
In recent months, Kharkiv, the second-largest city in Ukraine, has been bombarded with Russian glide bombs. Moscow has been hitting targets on the front lines using modified bombs from the Soviet period that are equipped with wings and navigation devices. In recent days, several strikes, including those using guided aircraft bombs, have been recorded by Ukrainian officials in Kharkiv.
Previous Incidents
An independent media organisation in Russia, Astra, revealed in April that Moscow had unintentionally launched a Kh-59 missile on a village in the Belgorod region. Russia accidentally attacked Petropavlovka, a village in the Voronezh region, in January. The defense ministry stated at the time that an “abnormal discharge of aircraft ammunition” happened above the settlement, according to official media. A few days later, an official stationed in Moscow said that one of its aircraft had unintentionally dropped an FAB-250 bomb on Rubizhne, in Ukraine’s annexed Luhansk region.
