Russia Bombs Own Belgorod Region Again

Russia has dropped several air-launched bombs on its border Belgorod region since Moscow launched a new offensive on northeastern Ukraine on Friday, according to an independent Russian media outlet.

In the past two and a half months, Russia has mistakenly dropped at least 33 aerial bombs on internationally-recognized Russian territory and Moscow-controlled regions of Ukraine, Russian independent outlet Astra reported on Monday.

Moscow's military has previously admitted that its aircraft have inadvertently bombed territory under Russian control, as it targeted Ukrainian-held settlements and cities, often using powerful aerial guided bombs.

On Friday, Russia accidentally dropped four of its FAB bombs on the country's Belgorod region, which sits on the border with northeastern Ukraine, followed by another FAB bomb on Saturday, Astra reported.

"This is not an isolated incident," the British government said on Saturday. "These incidents indicate Russia's continued inability to successfully employ their munitions on intended targets," the U.K. Defense Ministry said in an intelligence assessment posted to social media, adding the accidental firing of bombs can have "lethal consequences" for the Russian population.

Astra reported in a statement on social media that a further FAB bomb had fallen on a settlement on the outskirts of the city of Belgorod on Sunday evening.

Belgorod regional governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said "explosive objects" had fallen on the village of Razumnoye, but did elaborate. Baza, a Russian Telegram channel purporting to have links to Russia's security services, reported that a FAB-500 bomb fell close to Belgorod on Sunday, but that the circumstances were "unknown."

Newsweek has reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry for comment via email.

On Friday, Russia launched an offensive push on Ukraine's wider Kharkiv region, south of Belgorod, after long weeks of intense aerial bombardment. Belgorod has also been a frequent target for Ukrainian cross-border shelling.

Russia has converted its FAB series of Soviet-era bombs from "dumb" unguided munitions to highly destructive aerial guided weapons that have wreaked havoc along the eastern front.

Ukrainian officials reported earlier this month that a 1,500-kilogram FAB bomb had destroyed an entire street in Kharkiv City, Ukraine's second-largest city.

Earlier this month, open-source intelligence accounts and Ukraine-aligned media reported that Russia accidentally dropped a 250-kilogram FAB bomb on a civilian area of Belgorod. Gladkov said tens of homes had been damaged but did not comment on the cause of the blast.

Last month, footage appeared to show a 1,500-kilogram (3,300-pound) converted bomb landing on a Russian-controlled village in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, although the munition did not detonate. Separately in April, Astra reported that Moscow had mistakenly targeted a village in the Belgorod region with a Kh-59 missile.

In January, Russia bombed the village of Petropavlovka, in the country's Voronezh region, by mistake. The defense ministry said at the time that there had been an "abnormal discharge of aircraft ammunition" over the village, state media reported. A few days later, a Moscow-installed official said one of its jets had accidentally dropped a FAB-250 bomb on Rubizhne, in Ukraine's annexed Luhansk region.

Shortly after, the British defense ministry said Russia's "continued propensity for munition accidents is likely exacerbated by inadequate training and crew fatigue."

Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.