A Russian town with a population of over 400,000 people was hit by a bomb dropped by a Russian warplane late on Thursday.
The bomb caused a crater that was 40 meters (130 feet) wide, blew a vehicle onto a roof, and caused damage to buildings, per Russian state media.
According to official news agencies RIA Novosti and TASS, the bomb was released by a Russian Su-34, a twin-engine fighter bomber. The city of Belgorod, located 40 kilometers (24.8 miles) north of the border with Ukraine, was where the bomb was dropped, CNN reported.
The Russian Defense Ministry said an "emergency discharge of air ordnance" happened on April 20 at approximately 22:15 Moscow time when a Su-34 jet of the Russian Aerospace Forces was executing a flight over the city of Belgorod.
Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of Belgorod, said on Telegram that an enormous impact crater about 20 meters in radius was left at the crossing of one of the key streets in the area.
RIA Novosti reported that a vehicle rollover caused damage to a store's roof. According to Belgorod Mayor Valentin Demidov's Telegram channel, several residential complexes suffered damage in the incident.
Belgorod Blast Signify Heavy Toll of The Ongoing Russia-Ukraine War
Social media videos captured the blast's effect, lifting a car onto a supermarket's roof as traffic flowed down Prospekt Vatutina, near the city's center.
According to Gladkov, two ladies required medical attention and were sent to the hospital, according to a BBC report. However, things may have turned out far worse if a Russian aircraft had struck a densely populated area.
Since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war, explosions against targets, including gasoline and munitions warehouses, have shaken the Belgorod area, as they have in other sections of southern Russia, according to The Guardian.
Russian fighter planes routinely fly over the area en route to Ukraine. The explosion on Thursday further demonstrates the toll the 14-month-old Russia-Ukraine war is taking on Moscow's military forces.
A Russian military aircraft killed 15 people and started a massive fire last October when it crashed into a building near the Ukrainian border soon after takeoff.
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