17 injured as section of Belgorod apartment block collapses in Ukrainian strike
Up to 17 people have been injured after a Ukrainian missile attack on a high-rise residential building in Belgorod city, according to local governor Vyacheslav Gladkov.
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Videos from the scene captured a whole section of the ten-story building collapsing as a result of a strike. No deaths have yet been confirmed, but there are fears that bodies could be buried under the rubble.
Those hospitalised include a two-month-old baby, according to media reports.
“The city of Belgorod and the Belgorod Region were subjected to a massive shelling by the Ukrainian Armed Forces,” Gladkov wrote on Telegram on Sunday.
In the Kharkovskaya Mountain residential area, “an entire section of an apartment building - from the tenth to the first floor - collapsed as a result of a direct hit by a shell,” the governor said.
Russia’s acting health minister, Mikhail Murashko, has said 17 people have been hospitalized as a result of the incident.
“No fatalities have so far been discovered,” according to Gladkov.
The Telegram channel Mash reported earlier that at least seven people were killed and 15 others wounded in the attack.
According to the Telegram channel 112, at least 20 people could be trapped under the rubble. Residents are being evacuated from the apartment block, as there is danger that its other sections may also collapse, it added.
The rescuers, who are being helped by local volunteers, have recovered seven people from the debris, the Telegram channel Shot reported. About 30 were hurt in the attack; some remain in critical condition, it added.
Witnesses told Readovka, a media outlet, that a child was among those killed in the strike.
CCTV footage allegedly showing the moment when the shell struck the apartment block has been uploaded to social media.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said “the Kiev regime has carried out a terrorist attack on residential areas of Belgorod using a Tochka-U tactical missile system, Olkha and RM-70 Vampire multiple launch rocket systems.”
According to the ministry, six Soviet-era Tochka-U missiles, four Vampire rockets and two Olkha projectiles were intercepted by Russian air defenses. “Fragments of one of the downed Tochka-U missiles damaged a residential building in Belgorod,” it said.
The Emergencies Ministry has confirmed that there was a second collapse in the damaged building. The media reported earlier that the roof of the apartment block had caved in while the rescuers were clearing the rubble underneath. None of the emergency workers or volunteers were injured in the incident, a source in the governor’s office told Mash.
Russia’s Investigative Committee has announced that a criminal terrorism case was launched following the strike on the apartment block.
