Did Russia bomb its own city of Belgorod? What really happened?

On Thursday, there was a massive explosion in the Russian town of Belgorod. Officials said the city was left with a massive crater and two people were injured.

Let’s take a closer look at what happened:

The BBC quoted Russia’s defence ministry as saying that a SU-34 fighter, a twin-engine bomber, accidentally dropped a payload on Belgorod around 10.15 pm local time.

It called the incident an “abnormal descent of aviation ammunition”.

It did not clarify what type of weapon was involved in the incident. An investigation is already underway, as per BBC. Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of the region of Belgorod, said the blast had sent a shock wave that damaged four apartments and four cars and downed power line poles. “An explosion took place,” Gladkov said on the Telegram messaging app, adding that investigators and representatives of the Emergencies Ministry were at the scene. “Thank God there are no dead,” Gladkov was quoted as saying by Al Jazeera. He said that as a result of the explosion, a “huge” crater some 20 meters wide (65 feet) had appeared in the city center. Gladkov and Belgorod’s mayor, Valentin Demidov, posted pictures of damage on social media. One picture showed grim-looking locals huddling outside an apartment building, with one woman holding a small dog, and a fire engine nearby. Other images showed apartment interiors wrecked by the blast. [caption id=“attachment_12486982” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] This handout photo released by telegram channel of Belgorod region governor Vyacheslav Gladkov shows the side damaged apartments building near the crater after an explosion in Belgorod. AP[/caption] RIA Novosti reported that a car landed on a store roof. Citing preliminary information, Gladkov said one woman was hospitalised with a head injury, while another woman was treated at the scene. Demidov said residents of the damaged buildings would be temporarily moved to hotels. Ex-Royal Australian Air Force officer Peter Layton told CNN the incident was ‘odd’. Layton noted that the payload exploded and said if an emergency had occurred, it would be released in ‘safe mode’. Futher, a pilot would look to dispose of the bomb in an area devoid of citizens. “Where the bomb hit; the town center, not in the countryside, almost suggests accuracy,” Layton told CNN. He added if there had been an issue, the plane would have disposed of all its ammunitions.

“Maybe they were but only one exploded,” Layton added.

The region of Belgorod has been repeatedly shelled since Russian President Vladimir Putin sent troops to Ukraine in February 2022. Belgorod is one of several southern Russian regions where targets such as fuel and ammunition stores have been rocked by explosions since the start of what Moscow calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. In January, Gladkov told Putin that 25 people had been killed and more than 90 injured in the region since the start of the offensive. In October 2022, an Su-34 jet crashed into a residential building in the southern city of Yeysk, also near the border with Ukraine, killing 16 people, including several children. With inputs from agencies Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook ,  Twitter  and  Instagram .