Russian jet drops bomb on Russian city, state media says

By:

Radina Gigova, Victoria Butenko, Josh Pennington

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Brad Lendon is CNN

The Russian state media described the attack as an "emergency air ordnance release." A Russian warplane dropped an explosive on a Russian town of over 400,000 people in the late hours of Thursday. It left a 40-meter (130-foot) wide crater, blew a car up onto a roof, and damaged buildings.

According to reports by state news agencies RIA Novosti, and TASS, a Russian Su-34, a twin-engine fighter-bomber aircraft, dropped the munition above the city of Belgorod. This is located 40 kilometers north of the Ukrainian border.

The Russian Defense Ministry reported that an emergency air ordnance was released by a Su-34 aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces on April 20 at around 22:15 Moscow Time, while the plane was flying above the city Belgorod.

Vyacheslav gladkov, the governor of Belgorod, stated in a Telegram message that the incident occurred at the intersection of a central street, causing a 20-meter radius impact crater.

According to RIA Novosti, an overturned vehicle landed on the rooftop of a shop.

Belgorod mayor Valentin Demidov posted on his Telegram account that several apartment blocks were damaged by the explosion.

Gladkov reported that two people were injured by the explosion.

Last December, Russian state media made a big deal about its Su-34 fighter planes. They said that a "new batch" of frontline bombers had been delivered to Russian troops to be used against Ukraine. The number of aircraft delivered was not specified.

The Su-34 will be the main strike force of Russian frontline aircraft. The upgraded Su-34 has enhanced combat capabilities, enabling it use advanced air-launched munitions and increase the range and accuracy of its bombing runs.

Airplanes can carry various munitions including guided and unguided missiles, air-to air and air-to surface missiles.

The Russian state media has not revealed what type of munition was used to strike Belgorod on Thursday night.

Some estimates claim that the Su-34s of Moscow have suffered significant losses, and as much as 10% has been destroyed. Oryx, a Dutch open-source intelligence website, claims to have visual proof of 19 planes that were lost both in combat and non-combat incidents.

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine's neighboring region in February 2022, Belgorod has seen several explosions and attacks.

Gladkov, in a Telegram message, claimed that Kyiv had struck a village earlier this week in the region on the Ukrainian border.

According to a source who refused to be named, local media reported that two drones dropped bombs on the thermal power plants in their area.

Ukraine has not confirmed its involvement in the incident.

Andrii Yusov said on Ukrainian national TV on Monday that "we will not confirm nor deny [Ukraine’s involvement]."

"I think Russians should be used to the idea that there are no safe areas on their land while they wage an unjust war."

He added, "The war is already at the doorstep of every Russofascist.

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