Four dead after explosions in Russian town near Ukrainian border

Explosions hit the center of a Russian town just north of Ukraine early Sunday, killing four, officials said, in the deadliest known episode affecting civilians in Russia since the beginning of the war.

The Russian Defense Ministry blamed Ukraine for the explosions in the city of Belgorod. While Ukraine has occasionally hit oil and military targets in Russia's border region, this is the first time that Russia has accused Ukraine of targeting a major city center on the Russian side of the border during of a deadly attack.

Russian officials said Ukraine fired three Soviet-era missiles at Belgorod, all of which were shot down by Russian air defense systems. One fell to the ground in central Belgorod, causing destruction, they said.

There was no immediate comment from the Ukrainian military, but an adviser to the Ukrainian Ministry of Interior, Anton Gerashchenko, said he thought Russia itself was responsible for the strike, claiming it was intended to be used for propaganda. Ukraine and its international allies have repeatedly denounced Russia for striking civilian infrastructure on a much larger scale since it invaded its neighbor in February.

"What is happening now is of course an extremely difficult situation," Mr. Gladkov, in a T-shirt and jeans, told stunned residents on a sidewalk in Belgorod on Sunday morning, according to a video released by Russian media. "To say I can tell you it won't happen again, I can't, you know that. ”

Some Russian politicians on Sunday called for immediate retaliation against Ukraine, but the Kremlin has previously sought to downplay any Ukrainian attack on Russian territory – apparently worried about give the impression that Russian civilians are in danger in a war that officials call a "special military operation".

That approach seemed to change on Sunday morning, when the Russian Defense Ministry issued a statement indicating that Ukraine had targeted residential neighborhoods in the cities of Belgorod and Kursk using Tu-143 drones. and Tochka-U missiles in a "deliberate strike".

Russian air defense systems shot down all Ukrainian missiles, but fragments of one of them fell on a house in Belgorod, said the spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry, General Igor Konashenkov. the statement.

"I want to emphasize that this missile attack was deliberately planned and carried out against the civilian population of Russian cities," General Konashenkov said.

A few hours later, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria V. Zakharova said without providing evidence that the West had incited Kyiv to strike Russian cities "in order to push us to launch retaliatory strikes."

"We have so far refrained from taking such measures, but we will follow developments very closely," she said in a statement. "Those who act in this way should be aware that if the provocations continue, they had better beware."

Images published by Russian media and on social networks Socials showed smoke rising from parts of the city, with at least one house on fire.

While Belgorod residents are no longer surprised by the occasional explosions of air defense systems, Sunday was different, local blogger Vladimir Kornev said during a 'a telephone interview.< /p>

"What is unique today is that it hit the center of the city, and it massively affected life daily," Kornev said.

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