The wreckage of three drones has been discovered in the Russian city of Belgorod, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Monday. The city and the surrounding region, which borders Ukraine, have been repeatedly shelled since Moscow launched its military operation a year ago.
In a post on his Telegram channel, Gladkov said that there were no casualties. He added that some windows were blown out, and cars were “slightly damaged.”
“The special services are handling the situation,” the governor said. Several local media outlets have published photos of wings and other drone parts lying on the ground.
Belgorod Mayor Valentin Demidov said one UAV had “flown through the window of an apartment,” and the residents were evacuated from the building.
Local media cited a witness as saying a drone crashed into a wall of a residential building.
News website Mash reported that one of the aircraft was a Ukrainian UAV equipped with a “British-made plastic explosive device containing metallic shrapnel.” According to Mash, the drones were flying towards an electrical substation and were downed by local air defense forces.
Gladkov also said Ukrainian forces shelled the village of Stary Khutor on Monday morning, and that eight homes and a power line were damaged.
Moscow launched a military operation in Ukraine a year ago, citing the need to protect the people of Donbass and Kiev’s failure to implement the 2014-2015 Minsk peace accords. Russian officials have since accused Ukrainian troops of shelling Russian border territories, including the Bryansk and Kursk regions. The strikes have targeted energy infrastructure and residential areas, resulting in civilian casualties.