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Seventeen apartment buildings were evacuated in a Russian city near the Ukrainian border after an explosive device was found at the site where a bomb accidentally dropped by a Russian warplane caused a powerful explosion this week, authorities said.
A bomb blast last Thursday rocked parts of Belgorod, leaving a large crater and injuring three people.
Russia’s Defense Ministry quickly admitted that an accidental launch of a weapon by one of its own Su-34 bombers caused the explosion.
The ministry said it was investigating but did not elaborate on the weapon, which military experts said was likely a powerful 500-kilogram bomb.
Governor of Belgorod province, Vyacheslav Gladkov, reported that sappers inspecting the site of the explosion found and decided to detonate what he called “explosive object” which is “in the immediate vicinity of the residential building.”
The precautionary evacuation was completed at noon, according to Belgorod Mayor Valentin Demidov.
“The bomb was removed from the residential area. Residents were sent back to their homes,” Demidov wrote in Telegram.
Russian authorities have not said whether the explosive device was dropped by accident on Thursday and if so, if it was left over or separate from the bomb that exploded in the city.
Belgorod, located about 40 kilometers east of the Russia-Ukraine border, has faced regular drone attacks since Russia sent troops into Ukraine last year.
Russian authorities blamed the attack on the Ukrainian military, which did not immediately claim responsibility for the attack.
Moscow expels German diplomats
Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine has frozen relations with the West, with the expulsion of diplomats on both sides.
On Saturday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that the German authorities “decided on the mass expulsion of employees of the Russian diplomatic mission in Germany.”
A ministry statement said that “as a reaction to the hostile actions of Berlin,” Russia decided to “mirror” expulsions by Germany and “with limits” the maximum number of staff in the German diplomatic mission in Russia.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Russia had expelled more than 20 German diplomats, Russian state media reported, but did not give an exact number.
The German Foreign Ministry said it was taking note of the comments.
It said that the German and Russian governments had been in contact in recent weeks on “questions regarding the staffing of their respective diplomatic missions” and that Saturday’s flight was in that context. It is not elaborate.
The German air force said earlier that a Russian plane had flown to Berlin with diplomatic permission on Saturday, but did not specify who or what was on board.
The special clearance was needed because the European Union closed its airspace to Russian aircraft shortly after the war in Ukraine began.
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