Russia has admitted in the past it had accidentally targeted villages in the Belgorod region which borders occupied Ukrainian territories.
Russia
has been self-inflicting considerable blows as its troops have targeted their
own country on 39 occasions since the start of the year, a new report found.
The
independent Russian outlet The Insider found that Russian munitions had hit the
border region of Belgorod nearly 40 times as Moscow continues to push forward
with its efforts to gain more ground in Ukraine.
The
region, which borders Kharkiv Oblast in Ukraine, has come under direct friendly
fire on multiple occasions, with the latest instance reported last week as
Russia launched a two-pronged offensive to move closer to the city of Kharkiv.
Ukraine's
second-biggest city has been the target of continuous strikes for months but
some of Russia's munitions have accidentally struck Russian land instead of
reaching their objective.
One of
the incidents involved a Kh-59 missile, with The Insider reporting the other
unintended strikes involved variations of Moscow's FAB air-launched bombs.
The
report echoed findings from Russian news outlet Astra claiming Russia had
mistakenly dropped an estimated 33 aerial bombs on Moscow-controlled areas of
Ukraine as well as Russian territories between March and May 2024.
Last
month, Russia was forced to admit one of its Su-34 jets had dropped bombs on
the city of Belgorod in what it described as an "accidental discharge of
aviation ammunition."
Astra
then reported Russia had dropped four FAB bombs in the Belgorod region on May
10, with another similar incident reported the following day.
Vyacheslav
Gladkov, the regional governor for the Belgorod region, said on Monday that
"explosive objects" had struck the village of Razumnoye.
In
addition to the friendly fire, Belgorod has also been repeatedly subjected to
drone attacks and air raids conducted by Ukraine.
Russian
officials blamed Kyiv for the partial collapse of an apartment building that
caused at least 13 deaths and injured 20 other people on Sunday.
The
Russian Defense Ministry later wrote on social media that fragments of a downed
Tochka-U TRC missile had damaged the building.
It also
said that air defences had shot down several more rockets over the Belgorod
region, as well as two drones that were destroyed in a separate incident later
Sunday.
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1899002/russia-bombing-own-border-regions-ukraine-war