A high-rise apartment block in Belgorod has partially collapsed after a Ukrainian shelling of the Russian city on Sunday. Rescuers and volunteers spent hours searching through the debris trying to find any survivors.
“The city of Belgorod and the Belgorod Region were subjected to a massive shelling by the Ukrainian Armed Forces,” Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of the region bordering Ukraine, wrote on Telegram.
A total of 15 people were buried under the rubble of the ten-story apartment building on Schorsa Street in the south-western part of Belgorod. Dozens more, including a six-week-old baby, were wounded in the attack, according to auhorities.
A criminal case on charges of terrorism has been opened following the shelling, the Russian Investigative Committee has said.
13 May 2024
The Russian Emergencies Ministry says a total of 17 people were rescued from the rubble over the course of the search operation that lasted for over 20 hours, repeatedly interrupted by missile danger alerts.
The search and rescue operation in Belgorod has wrapped up, with the final death toll from the Ukrainian strike that caused a partial apartment block collapse standing at 15 people, according to the emergencies ministry.
The lack of reaction from American officials to the deadly Ukrainian shelling of the Russian city of Belgorod, demonstrates Washington’s willingness to ignore and whitewash any Kiev’s crimes against civilians, the Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov has said.
“It emphasizes Washington’s readiness to do everything to relieve the Kiev puppets of responsibility for their atrocities,” he added, noting that so-called “independent” media has totally ignored the fact that the city was struck at least ten times within the day.
“Children, women, and old people are being killed with Western weapons. Some promises by Kiev not to use weapons it received from America on targets in our country are not worth a penny,” he emphasized, blasting the “ostrich” policy adopted by the collective West and the reluctance to restrain “Ukrainian henchmen.”
Russian air defenses intercepted “several aerial targets” over Belgorod Region, governor Gladkov has said, adding that according to preliminary information there were no injuries in the latest strike. However, several houses and cars were damaged in the village of Cheremoshnoye close to the Ukrainian border. According to Gladkov, three people miraculously survived a “direct” artillery strike that completely destroyed their house.
Another victim’s body was pulled from under the rubble, according to authorities, bringing the number of casualties to 15 people.
The recovery operation has stretched into the night, as rescue teams continue searching through rubble and debris, according to videos from the scene.
12 May 2024
The death toll in Belgorod has grown to 14 people, after rescuers located another body under the rubble of the collapsed building, according to the emergency services.
Authorities have issued another air raid alert, urging the residents of Belgorod to seek shelter. “If you are at home – do not approach the windows and take shelter in rooms with solid walls. If you are outside, seek shelter or another safe place,” the regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on Telegram.
Rescuers have recovered the body of another victim from under the rubble of the partially collapsed apartment block, the Russian Emergencies Ministry has said, adding that the latest discovery brings to 13 the total number of victims found at the site.
The death toll linked to the Ukrainian attack on Belgorod has risen to 11, the regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov says in a statement on Telegram. Eight victims were found under the rubble of a partially collapsed apartment block, and three more, including a 17-year-old girl, were killed in another “massive shelling” by Kiev’s troops later on Sunday, he states.
Eight people have been confirmed dead following the Ukrainian shelling of Belgorod, according to Russia’s Emergencies Ministry.
The death toll of the Belgorod attack has risen to seven, as rescuers have recovered the remains of one more victim from under the rubble of the collapsed apartment block, Russia’s Emergencies Ministry has reported.
Four women and three men were killed as a result of the Ukrainian shelling of the city on Sunday, Governor Gladkov has said.
The remains of one more person have been recovered from under the rubble of the residential building in Belgorod that partially collapsed following a Ukrainian strike on Sunday, the Russian Emergencies Ministry reported on Telegram.
The total number of casualties has now risen to six. Some 20 have been injured in the attack, the Belgorod Region Governor said earlier.
Belgorod Region Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov has confirmed that at least three people died in the attack on Sunday. Meanwhile, the Emergencies Ministry reports that five bodies have already been recovered from under the rubble of the partially collapsed residential building.
According to updated information, Gladkov wrote on Telegram that some 20 people were wounded in Ukraine’s shelling of the Russian city of Belgorod on Sunday.
The governor also confirmed earlier media reports that a newborn is among the injured. The six-week-old baby was diagnosed with “barotrauma, closed craniocerebral injury, and thermal burns to the face and neck” and will be transported to Russian Children’s Clinical Hospital in Moscow.
A 16-year-old boy received “barotrauma, open craniocerebral injury and brain contusion” and is currently in the intensive care unit of the children's hospital in the region, Gladkov said.
The bodies of two more people have been recovered from under the rubble of an apartment building in Belgorod, in the wake of a Ukrainian strike that caused the structure to partially collapse, the Russian Emergencies Ministry reported on Telegram.
That brings the number of casualties to at least four. Just half an hour earlier, the ministry reported the first two dead bodies recovered.
A man has been rescued from under the rubble in Belgorod, according to Russia’s Emergencies Ministry.
Rescuers had maintained contact with him for several hours before he was pulled out and handed over to doctors, the ministry said in a post on Telegram. To extract him, rescuers broke through the concrete wall of a next-door apartment, it added.
The ministry also posted a video showing the man on a stretcher, being carried through a window opening with no glass, to an ambulance.
President Vladimir Putin has received reports from the acting emergencies minister, Aleksandr Kurenkov, and Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, on the situation following “a barbaric missile attack by Kiev regime” on an apartment block in Belgorod, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told journalists.
The president “gave all the necessary instructions,” he added.
At least two people have died as a result of the Ukrainian attack on a residential building in the city of Belgorod, according to the local governor.
“The bodies of two people were pulled from under the rubble. Their identities are being established. The investigative committee is working at the site,” Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on Telegram.
More people could be trapped in the rubble of the ten-story block, which partially collapsed after a rocket strike on Sunday morning, Gladkov said.
“Rescuers are doing everything to save their lives,” he added.
The shelling of “peaceful neighborhoods” in Belgorod on Sunday morning was carried out with the use of weapons supplied to Kiev by NATO countries, Russia’s Permanent Mission to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has stated.
Moscow demands that the organization's leadership “condemn the criminal actions in strongest possible terms,” the statement on Telegram reads.
“It is unacceptable to blatantly ignore civilian victims among Russian citizens,” in Belgorod, Donbass or elsewhere, the mission added. “There must be no double standards and political ‘filters’ in the OSCE when it comes to the Kiev regime's obvious brutal violations of international humanitarian law.”
The search-and-rescue operation at the site of the building collapse was interrupted for a third time and rescuers had to retreat to shelter as a missile danger alert has been announced again in Belgorod, the Russian Emergencies Ministry has announced.
The Telegram channel Shot has posted a video of what it described as rescuers at the site of the building collapse beginning to extract an elderly man from under the rubble in a Belgorod residential area.
“He is pinned under the slabs but is conscious and continues to communicate with rescuers,” the news channel wrote.
Earlier, Shot reported that eyewitnesses said the man was heard screaming under a pile of concrete. His daughter reportedly recognized her father’s voice. He lived on the first floor of a building struck by a Ukrainian attack earlier on Sunday.
Russian human rights ombudsman Tatiana Moskalkova has urged the international community to condemn “acts of terrorism against civilians” carried out by Kiev’s forces and to take measures to stop such “gross violations” of human rights.
The evacuation of the residential building in Belgorod which partly collapsed following a Ukrainian strike has been completed, TASS has reported, citing officials.
Ten people, who are believed to have been inside the destroyed section of the apartment block at the time of the strike, are still unaccounted for, the news agency said.
Two temporary accommodation centers have been set up in Belgorod for the building’s residents, Deputy Mayor Sergey Andreev has told journalists.
The search-and-rescue operation at the scene of the building collapse has been interrupted twice due to “missile danger” alerts in Belgorod, the Emergencies Ministry has said.
Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov has confirmed that warning sirens are sounding in Belgorod Region.
“If you are at home, do not go near the windows. Take shelter in rooms without windows with solid walls (hallway, bathroom, toilet). If you are outside, go to a shelter or other safe place,” the official warned locals.
A two-month-old boy was wounded in the attack, the Telegram channel Baza has reported, adding that the baby is currently in intensive care, where “doctors are fighting for his life”.
According to Baza, the child “suffered a concussion, barotrauma, and burns to the face, neck and respiratory tract.”
The channel also claims that a 16-year-old boy “with an open craniocerebral injury” has been admitted to the children's regional clinical hospital. “Doctors assess his condition as serious,” Baza wrote.
So far, there has been no official confirmation of the reports.
No fatalities have so far been confirmed following the Ukrainian “barbaric shelling” of Belgorod, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov has said in an update on Telegram.
According to the official, Sunday’s attack caused the collapse of one of the eight sections of a ten-story building. There were 40 apartments in the ruined section.
“During the evacuation of residents from the affected apartments and the removal of rubble, a partial collapse of the roof occurred,” he added.
According to preliminary information, some 19 people were injured as a result of what Gladkov described as “massive shelling” of Belgorod by Kiev’s forces. Some 62 apartments in three different buildings were damaged, he said.
Three rescuers were injured in the second partial collapse of the building, which occurred shortly after the Ukrainian attack, during the search-and-rescue operation, the Russian Emergencies Ministry has reported.
A video purporting to show the moment a Ukrainian shell hit the residential building in Belgorod has been shared on social media.
The Russian Defense Ministry has said the apartment block was damaged by fragments of an intercepted Tochka-U missile.
“The terrorist attack in Belgorod is another bloody link in the chain of crimes of the Kiev regime,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on Telegram.
“Targeted shelling of civilians, civilian infrastructure, residential buildings, hospitals, schools, and social facilities has become the signature of [Ukraine President Vladimir] Zelensky’s criminal group, which is backed by Western sponsors,” she stated.
At least 17 people have been wounded in the building collapse in Belgorod, caused by a Ukrainian strike, according to the Health Ministry’s acting chief, Mikhail Murashko.
All of them have been hospitalized, he said, adding that “additional ambulance teams, surgeons, and thoracic surgery specialists” have been sent to the scene of the tragedy.
Ukrainian forces targeted Belgorod’s residential neighborhoods using a Tochka-U ballistic missile system, and ‘Olkha’ and ‘Vampire’ rocket launchers, the Russian Defense Ministry has said.
According to the military, while repelling the attack – which occurred at around 11.40 Moscow time (9.30 am GMT) – Russian air defense destroyed six Tochka-U missiles, four Vampire and two Olkha rockets.
“Fragments of one of the downed Tochka-U missiles damaged a residential building in the city of Belgorod,” it added.
A second collapse has occurred during the search-and-rescue operation at the site of a Ukrainian attack that hit a residential building, the Russian emergencies Ministry has reported.
A video purportedly showing further destruction of the apartment bloc has appeared on social media. In the footage, people – apparently rescuers and volunteers – can be seen running from the scene, as parts of the building fall to the ground.
Russia’s Investigative Committee has launched a criminal case on charges of terrorism following the shelling.
”On May 12, as a result of an attack by the Ukrainian armed forces on the city of Belgorod, a shell hit a residential multi-story building. As a result of the incident, according to preliminary data, there were fatalities and injuries,” it said in a statement on Telegram.
A Russian Emergencies Ministry crew is carrying out a search-and-rescue operation at the site of a partially collapsed residential building in Belgorod, the ministry has reported.
“So far, 12 people have been saved, including two children,” the statement said.
Earlier, Belgorod Region Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said the city had come under a “massive shelling.”