In Belgorod, around 22:00 Moscow time, a powerful explosion roared. According to locals and Telegram news channels, a large crater has formed at the intersection of Vatutin and Gubkin streets south of the city centre.
“Emergency in Belgorod. There was an explosion. According to preliminary information, there was no loss of life. At the intersection of one of the central streets, a huge funnel with a radius of 20 meters formed. Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said that the windows of a neighboring apartment were damaged, the explosion damaged many parked cars. and he said he knocked down power poles.
The mayor of Belgorod, Valentin Demidov, said that the head of the regional security department, Yevgeny Vorobyov, and all operational and emergency services were at the scene.
Footage taken by locals shows a large gap forming at a busy intersection, with pieces of land and highway dispersed tens of meters away. The Pyaterochka supermarket, located near the intersection, was also damaged. According to eyewitnesses, the depth of the funnel reaches three meters.
The people of Belgorod wrote that a car was thrown on the roof of a supermarket by a shock wave.
The crime scene is now cordoned off. The police and emergency service teams who came to the scene asked the citizens not to approach the explosion area and not to let even those in need go home.
Users on social networks assumed that it was a missile attack, the aim of which is located just a few tens of meters from the funnel, four kilometers away there is a city electrical substation or a Belgorod thermal power station.
Eyewitnesses told the Beware the News Telegram channel that the current eruption was different from those who had come to the city they had heard of before. According to them, first a whistling sound was heard and a few seconds later an explosion sound was heard. The shock wave knocked down poles and trees. One of the damaged houses lost power.
Then came the footage from the security cameras. They hear a low-flying jet-like sound, and 13 seconds later an explosion appears at the intersection.
Around midnight, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported that the explosion was caused by an abnormal drop of an aerial bomb from an airplane.
“On the evening of April 20, during the flight of the Su-34 VKS aircraft over the city of Belgorod, an abnormal landing of aviation ammunition occurred,” the ministry said.
The mayor Demidov said that the houses were not damaged only on the streets of Gubkin and Vatutin. “There is destruction on Shalandina Street as a result of the explosion in several apartments. Distributed information headquarters. We offer temporary accommodation in a hotel to all residents of the affected homes.”
Residents of one of the affected homes posted a video showing the destruction of part of the exterior wall, a window, appliances and furniture.
Governor Gladkov later confirmed that two women were injured in the incident. One of them was diagnosed with a craniocerebral injury and was admitted to City Hospital No. 2 in a moderate condition. The second woman survived with bruises and refused hospitalization, all necessary medical care was provided to her at the scene.