Russia Accidentally Dropped 39 Bombs on Own Border Region in 2024: Report

Russia has accidentally bombed its own border region nearly 40 times since the start of 2024, according to a new report, as Moscow pushes on with an offensive in Ukraine's northeast.

Russian munitions have fallen on its own Belgorod region, which sits on the border with northeastern Ukraine, on 39 occasions since the beginning of the year, Russian independent investigative outlet The Insider reported on Monday.

The region has borne the brunt of the cross-border spillover of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and sits north of Ukraine's Kharkiv region, which Moscow has been actively attacking since Friday. Kharkiv has been under Russian bombardment, often with adapted aerial bombs, for months.

One of the weapons dropped on the Belgorod region was a Kh-59 missile, and the other 38 were variants of Russia's modified FAB air-launched bombs, according to the outlet.

Newsweek reached out to the Russian defense ministry for comment via email.

Separately on Monday, Russian independent news outlet Astra reported that Moscow had mistakenly dropped at least 33 aerial bombs on internationally recognized Russian territory and Moscow-controlled regions of Ukraine from March to May 2024.

Moscow's military has previously admitted that its aircraft have inadvertently bombed areas under Russian control. In April 2023, the Russian defense ministry described the bombing of the city of Belgorod by an Su-34 jet, which injured three people, as an "accidental discharge of aviation ammunition."

The U.K. government has said poor training and fatigue among Russian crews increases the likelihood of these incidents.

On Friday, Russia accidentally dropped four of its FAB bombs on the Belgorod region, followed by another FAB bomb on Saturday, Astra reported. A further FAB bomb reportedly fell on a settlement on the outskirts of the city of Belgorod on Sunday evening.

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 frontlines in Ukraine. The weapons are often upgraded with pop-out wings and guidance systems to glide accurately after being launched from jets that keep away from Ukrainian air defenses.

Belgorod's regional governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said on Monday that "explosive objects" had fallen on the village of Razumnoye, close to Belgorod, but didn't 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."

The Russian defense ministry did not reply to a request for comment.

Earlier this month, open-source intelligence accounts and Ukraine-aligned media reported that Moscow had accidentally dropped a 250-kilogram FAB bomb on a civilian area of Belgorod while attempting to target Kharkiv. Gladkov said tens of homes had been damaged, but didn't comment on the cause of the blast.

In April, footage widely shared across social media appeared to show a 1,500-kilogram bomb landing in a Russian-held village in eastern Ukraine without detonating.

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