Russian jet accidentally fires on Russian city Belgorod near Ukraine border

A Russian jet caused a large explosion Thursday after accidentally bombing the city of Belgorod, near the country’s border with Ukraine.

The Russian defense ministry said an investigation was underway following the incident, which occurred after 10 p.m. local time when a Su-34 fighter-bomber jet dropped ordnance on the city, according to state news agency Tass.

Two women were injured and several buildings and cars sustained damage. The blast also left a 60-foot wide crater, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.

Tass described the explosion as “an accidental discharge of aviation ammunition.”

Video of the blast shared on Telegram contains audio of a plane flying overhead followed shortly after by an explosion. Alarms are also heard going off. Pictures of the damage showed a building’s facade ripped off, debris strewn about and the crater.

Officials said people from the damaged apartment buildings would be temporarily moved to hotels.

The incident could have caused much more civilian damage.

In October 2022, 16 people including several children, were killed when a Su-34 jet returning from a training exercise crashed into an apartment building in Yeysk, also near the Ukrainian border.

Belgorod is about 25 miles from the border and Russian warplanes frequently fly over the city on their way to Ukraine. The city and the surrounding area have been rocked by explosions multiple times since Russia invaded Ukraine as fuel and ammunition storage sites have been targeted with shelling. Missile attacks have also been launched from the city into Ukraine.

There are unconfirmed reports that the ordnance was a guided bomb that was intended for Kharkiv in Ukraine.