A Russian war plane accidentally discharged a weapon that exploded in the Russian city of Belgorod, close to the Ukrainian border, late Thursday night, causing an explosion and injuring several people, according to state media.
“At around 22:15 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 defense ministry said in a statement to TASS, which didn’t specify the weapon that caused the damage.
The Sukhoi Su-34 is a supersonic fighter-bomber jet.
Belgorod’s regional governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said earlier on Telegram that there had been an explosion in the center of the city, leaving a crater measuring 20 meters, with several cars and buildings damaged.
In an update Friday morning, Gladkov added that three people had been hurt, though their injuries weren’t life-threatening.
The Belgorod region, which is about an hour’s drive from the Ukrainian city Kharkiv, has been hit by rockets several times since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.