Moscow (EFE) the eponymous Russian region bordering Ukraine, Vyacheslav Gladkov.
“The evacuation was supervised by specialists from the Ministry for Emergency Situations,” Gladkov wrote on his Telegram channel.
He added that some residents of the five-story building moved to relatives’ houses and others were accommodated in a hotel in the city.
Because of the explosion, which occurred last night, a woman was injured in the head and was hospitalized “in a state of moderate severity”, and another woman suffered burns, but refused to be admitted.
The governor reported today that, in addition, an elderly woman had to be hospitalized for a hypertensive crisis and is under medical observation.
The explosion of the projectile, whose type has not been specified by the Russian Ministry of Defense, left a huge crater, 20 meters in diameter, and affected several residential buildings, cars and power line poles.
The power of the shock wave was such that a car that was parked next to the place of the explosion was left on the roof of a nearby building.
The city of Belgorod is located just 30 kilometers from the Ukrainian border, so at first social media users attributed the explosion to a Ukrainian attack.
Shortly thereafter, the Russian Defense Ministry issued a press release stating that the explosion was caused by a shell from a Russian warplane.
“On April 20, 2023, at approximately 10:15 p.m. Moscow time (7:15 p.m. GMT), during a flight of the Su-34 aircraft of the Aerospace Forces over the city of Belgorod, an abnormal release of an aviation munition took place,” specified in his note.
Defense added that an investigation has been launched to clarify the causes of the incident.