Explosions rang out in the Russian border city of Belgorod on Sunday, May 12, followed by the collapse of the entrance of a high-rise building from the tenth to the first floor.
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Russian Telegram channel Baza reported that at least four people were killed and another 35 were injured. Later, information about the seven dead people appeared.
However, Russian officials haven’t confirmed the dead following the explosion at the moment of publication. A building collapsed, leaving at least 17 people injured, the Russian health minister Mikhail Murashko said.
“Seventeen injured have been sent to medical centers,” Murashko was quoted as saying by the Russian state RIA Novosti news agency.
The emergencies ministry added that 12 people, including two children, had been rescued from the rubble.
The emergencies ministry warned the number of victims could rise as part of the building roof caved in just as rescuers were searching for survivors.
In his latest Telegram messages, the governor of the Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, reported that there have been no dead so far.
Gladkov has already blamed Ukraine for the incident in his Telegram statement. He said that Ukrainian troops allegedly fired at the building, which caused the collapse.
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The information regarding a Russian-guided aerial bomb that had fallen on the house has been already circulating on Telegram channels.
In its statement, the Russian Ministry of Defense said that the “Kyiv regime” carried out a “terrorist attack” on the residential quarters of Belgorod around 11:40. According to the report, the Ukrainian troops allegedly used the Tochka-U tactical missile system, the Vilha multiple-launch rocket systems, and the RM-70 Vampire for this purpose.
The Russian DefMin said that during the repulse of the attack, Russian air defenses destroyed six Tochka-U missiles, four rockets of the Vampyr salvo rocket system, and two rockets of the Vilha salvo rocket system.
“Fragments of one of the downed Tochka-U missiles damaged a residential building in the city of Belgorod,” the Russian ministry said in a statement.
However, videos posted on social media showcased that the building was not hit by debris, shells, or rockets. An explosion can be seen from the inside on the first floor or in the basement.
Andriy Kovalenko, head of the Center for Countering Disinformation under the Council of National Security and Defense of Ukraine, has already reacted to the incident and commented that the building in Belgorod was most likely blown up.
“There are no falling objects visible on the video from the cameras, accordingly, all accusations of the Russians about shelling by the Defense Forces are currently untrue,” he reported.
According to Kovalenko, this incident is similar to Russia’s informational provocation to inflate the situation “to justify further strikes on residential buildings in Ukrainian cities.”
“It could also have been a domestic explosion, which Russian propaganda is now twisting into shelling a house in its interests,” he added.
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