Fatalities and injuries as missile strike collapses building in Belgorod
In the Russian city of Belgorod, near the border with Ukraine, a section of a ten-story residential building collapsed on Sunday. The governor of the Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, accused Ukraine of the attack. According to Russian authorities, there are fatalities and at least a dozen injured people.
Initially, official sources only reported the injured. Then, the Russian Investigative Committee announced there were also fatalities without specifying their number. The latest reports from state Russian agencies and media mention 13 wounded.
Earlier, the casualties were unofficially reported by Telegram channels Baza and Mash, stating four and seven people respectively. It was also noted that there were people trapped under the rubble.
Russia blames Ukraine
Local authorities claim that the cause of the building's collapse was a Ukrainian attack. Governor Gladkov stated that it was caused by "a direct hit by a missile".
According to the Russian Ministry of Defence, the building was hit not by a missile but by fragments of a Ukrainian Tochka-U missile shot down by air defence forces.
Independent television Nastoyascheye Vremya noted that it is still unknown what caused the building to collapse. In the border city of Belgorod, an air raid alarm was sounded five times on Sunday morning.
