Belgorod, the region in Russian territory hardest hit by Ukrainian counterattacks in almost two years of conflict, suffered a bombing this Thursday that hit a shopping center in its capital and caused five deaths, according to Russian authorities.
The regional governor, Viacheslav Gladkov, assured that 18 people were also injured as a result of the Ukrainian bombing, including five minors. Among the five deceased, there is a child, said the senior official.
The projectiles, launched from Ukrainian territory, damaged a shopping center and “one of the industrial companies” in the area.
In published photos and videos you can see that the glass on the walls of the shopping center was shattered, as well as the entrance to the Magnit chain supermarket. Debris caused by the explosion appears near the wall. The small shopping center also houses a pharmacy.
Windows of five nearby apartment buildings were shattered by the blast wave of the explosions. Seven other private homes also suffered damage.
Another projectile landed on the sports field of a school in the city, local authorities reported.
The Russian Ministry of Defense assured that it managed to stop an enemy attack around 12:30 (10:30 in Barcelona), and the air defense systems shot down 14 projectiles. According to this department, Ukraine used an RM-70 multiple rocket launcher for its attack, a rocket artillery system that began to be manufactured in the 1970s in the former Czechoslovakia.
The city of Belgorod, located about 40 kilometers from the Ukrainian border and about 80 kilometers from Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second city, is the capital of the homonymous region that has regularly suffered Kyiv’s reaction against the Russian offensive ordered by the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, February 24, 2022.
During the night from Wednesday to Thursday, Ukraine reported that Russia had attacked it with 26 missiles, killing at least one woman. During the day on Tuesday, shelling in eastern Ukraine left eight people dead, according to Kyiv.
The deadliest of the Ukrainian attacks against the Russian Belgorod Oblast occurred on December 30, 2023, with 25 dead and more than a hundred injured. The Ukrainian forces thus responded to a large-scale attack with missiles and drones that Russia carried out on the 29th against numerous Ukrainian cities and which, according to Kyiv accounts, left 55 dead.
