The Russian regional governor accuses Ukraine of bombing a residential building in the city of Belgorod, near the Ukrainian border.
At least six people were killed and 20 others injured after a building collapsed in the Russian border town of Belgorod, according to Russian officials.
A video released Sunday by the Russian Ministry of Civil Defense, Emergencies and Disaster Relief showed firefighters and rescuers working on a huge pile of rubble. The ministry said six bodies had been recovered from the rubble.
“The number of injured, according to the latest data, is 20 people,” emergency services reported to the Russian state news agency TASS.
Earlier, the Emergencies Ministry said 12 people, including two children, were rescued from the scene.
Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov posted a video on Telegram showing a collapsed building with a large hole.
“After direct artillery fire at a residential building… the entire entrance, from the 10th to the ground floor, collapsed,” Gladkov said, condemning the “massive shelling” by the Ukrainian army.
There was no immediate comment from the Ukrainian military.
A resident told the Russian news agency RIA Novosti that she was in the hallway of a building and that her husband was in a bedroom when the explosion occurred.
“He did not have time [to escape]” she said, adding that her husband had been injured in the head and face.
Air raid warnings continued in Belgorod as rescuers worked to search for victims in the rubble.
The Russian Defense Ministry later wrote on social media that the building had been damaged by fragments from a downed Tochka-U TRC missile. It also said air defenses 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 attacks.
Although most cross-border shelling occurs in rural areas, attacks have also been observed against the capital of the Belgorod region, the city of Belgorod, which was attacked on Saturday night, killing one person and injuring 29 others. Governor Gladkov said on social media. In December 2023, a bombing in the heart of the city killed 25 people, prompting authorities to begin building public shelters.
Cities across western Russia have been subject to regular drone attacks since May 2023, and Russian officials blame kyiv.
Ukrainian officials have not acknowledged responsibility for the attacks on Russian territory or the Crimean peninsula.
