BELGOROD, Russia, May 12, 2024 (AFP) – A building collapsed in the Russian border city of Belgorod after a Ukrainian strike, leaving at least 17 people injured, the health minister said.
The Russian defence ministry said a Ukrainian Tochka-U missile hit a “residential district” in the city after it was intercepted by air defences.
“Seventeen injured have been sent to medical centres,” Health Minister Mikhail Murashko was quoted as saying by the state RIA Novosti news agency.
The emergency situations ministry said 12 people, including two children, had been rescued from the rubble.
Belgorod governor Viacheslav Gladkov had posted a video to Telegram showing a collapsed building with a huge hole in it.
“Following direct shell fire on a residential building… the entire entrance, from the tenth to the ground floor, collapsed,” Gladkov said, condemning “massive bombings” by the Ukrainian army.
The emergency situations ministry warned the number of victims could rise as part of the building roof caved in just as rescuers were searching for survivors.
One resident told RIA Novosti she was in a building corridor when the explosion went off and her husband was in a bedroom. “He did not have the time” to escape, she said, adding that the man had been injured in the head and face.
Belgorod is regularly targeted by Ukrainian drone and missile attacks. Kyiv says it is doing so to counter daily bombardments by Russian forces on Ukrainian cities since the February 2022 military offensive started.
On December 30, 25 people were killed and about 100 injured in one attack.