By John Ensor • Published: 21 Apr 2023 • 10:10
Own goal: more embarrassment for Putin. Credit: Harold Escalona/Shutterstock Images
Video footage shows a SU-34 jet, known as Russia’s ‘frontline bomber,’ prematurely firing an allegedly ‘high precision’ weapon into the Russian city of Belgorod, reports The Daily Mail today, Friday, April 21.
Belgorod, a city with a population of more than 400,000, people, is approximately 25 miles from the border with Ukraine, and about 50 miles from Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv.
Luckily the explosive missed an apartment block but has left a massive 70ft crater, with the resulting debris scattered around the area.
The shock wave caused by the explosion was so great that a car was thrown onto the roof of a Pyaterochka convenience store.
Despite being potentially disastrous for innocent civilians, thankfully the casualties were remarkably slight, with just two women being reported wounded. One of the women suffered head wounds and required hospital treatment.
The mayor of Belgorod, Valentin Demidov, commented that the explosion caused several residential buildings to be damaged.
The people in the Belgorod region are themselves no strangers to the misery caused by their president’s war. Since the invasion, 30 people have been killed and 123 wounded, because of Russian aggression that has sparked Ukrainian retaliation.
In an astonishing admission, the Russian defence ministry quickly owned up to the mistake.
A statement was issued which seemed to downplay what happened, ‘During the flight of an Su-34 aircraft of the Aerospace Forces over the city of Belgorod an abnormal descent of aviation ammunition occurred.’
Dmitry Kolezev, a reporter commented, ‘It was miraculous no-one died, at least according to official figures.
‘Apparently the ministry decided that admitting self-bombing is better than admitting that the Armed Forces of Ukraine can inflict such powerful strikes on Russian cities.’
This latest military blunder follows similar episodes when an Su-34 fighter bomber crashed near a high-rise residential building in Yeysk, Russia, killing 15, in October 2022. And just six days later in Irkutsk, another military plane crashed into a two-story house.
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Originally from Doncaster, Yorkshire, John now lives in Galicia, Northern Spain with his wife Nina. He is passionate about news, music, cycling and animals. When he's not writing for EWN he enjoys gigging in a acoustic duo, looking after their four dogs, four chickens, two cats, and cycling up mountains very slowly.
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