A Russian warplane accidentally fired a weapon at the city of Belgorod near Ukraine, causing an explosion and damaging buildings, Tass news agency quoted the Russian Defense Ministry as saying.
Late Thursday, local officials reported a large explosion in the town, which lies just across the border with Ukraine. The regional governor said two women were injured.
According to Tass, the Defense Ministry said, “When a Sukhoi Su-34 Air Force plane was flying over the city of Belgorod, it accidentally released ammunition.”
Belgorod’s regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, announcing the state of emergency, said in a telegram that there was a 20-metre (65 ft) crater on one of the main roads. He said four cars and four apartment buildings were damaged.
The Defense Ministry did not say what type of weapon was involved. The Su-34 is a supersonic fighter-bomber jet. According to Tass, the ministry said some buildings had been damaged and were being investigated.
Video footage from the site showed piles of concrete in the street, several damaged cars and a building with broken windows. In one shot, an overturned car was visible on the roof of a shop.
The Belgorod region is one of several parts of southern Russia where targets such as fuel and ammunition stores have been rocked by explosions since the start of Moscow’s “special military operation” in Ukraine in February 2022.