The entrance to an apartment building in Belgorod collapsed from the tenth to the first floor after being hit by a shell from the Armed Forces of Ukraine. This was announced by the governor of the region Vyacheslav Gladkov in his Telegram channel, TASS agency reported.
„The city of Belgorod and the Belgorod region were subjected to massive shelling by the Ukrainian armed forces. As a result of a direct hit of a projectile on a residential building, the entire entrance from the tenth to the first floor collapsed," he wrote. Rescue teams have been dispatched to the scene. It is not clear how many victims there are.
According to sources, at least seven people died, many others were injured. The attack came two days after the Russian occupation army launched an offensive in Ukraine's Kharkiv region, bordering Belgorod. The footage shows how during the rescue operation, parts of the building continue to fall - it is believed that rescuers are also trapped.
Evacuation is underway and search and rescue operations have begun. The preliminary cause of the incident is shelling from Ukraine, Russian authorities say. On Sunday, the missile warning siren sounded five times in Belgorod and Belgorod Oblast.
Ukrainian media reports that the Russian Air Defense Forces may be responsible for the collapse of the apartments. It is also possible that this is a provocation by the Russian services, which in the past have experience with similar operations under a false flag.