Kiev conducts ‘terrorist attack’ against Belgorod – MoD

Ukraine targeted residential neighborhoods using a Tochka-U ballistic missile as well as Olkha and Vampire rocket launchers, the ministry said

Kiev conducted a cross-border “terrorist attack” on residential buildings in the Russian city of Belgorod using Tochka-U ballistic missiles, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement on Sunday. 

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The capital of Belgorod Region was targeted with Tochka-U ballistic missiles and rockets from Olkha and Vampire multiple rocket launchers, the ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

Six Soviet-era Tochka-U missiles, four Vampire rockets and two Olkha projectiles have been intercepted by Russian air defenses, it stressed.

“Fragments of one of the downed Tochka-U missiles damaged a residential building in Belgorod,” the ministry said.

The Tochka-U is a mobile launch system developed by the Soviet Union in the 1970s. Russia has phased out its use in favor of more advanced Iskander ballistic missiles, which were introduced in the mid-2000s. However, Kiev still has Tochka-Us in its arsenal and has used them repeatedly during the conflict with Moscow.

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Apartment building partly collapses amid Ukrainian strike on Belgorod, casualties reported

Belgorod Region Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said earlier that “an entire section of an apartment building – from the tenth to the first floor – collapsed as a result of a direct hit” during the Ukrainian bombardment of the city.

According to Russia’s acting health minister, Mikhail Murashko, 17 people have been hospitalized as a result of the incident.

There has so far been no official data on the number of fatalities. According to Mash, a Telegram channel, at least seven people have been killed. The rescuers have been able to recover 12 residents from the debris, but another ten could still be trapped inside, it said.

At some point, the roof of the damaged building collapsed while the rescuers were clearing the rubble underneath. A source in the governor’s office told Mash that no one was hurt, but Shot reported that one of the emergency workers suffered a leg fracture and two others were lightly wounded.

Russia’s Investigative Committee has said that a criminal terrorism case was launched following the strike on the apartment block.