Belgorod Mayor Valentin Demidov wrote on his Telegram channel that several apartment buildings were damaged in the blast. Russian state media boasted about the country’s Su-34 warplanes last December, when it said a “new batch of … frontline bombers” had been delivered to Russian forces to use against Ukraine. Russia state media did not say what kind of munition fell on Belgorod late Thursday. The Belgorod region has been the scene of several explosions and bombings since Russia’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine in February 2022. Local media reported two drones dropped small bombs at the local thermal power plants, citing an anonymous source.

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