Russia reports dead and wounded after ammunition depot in Belgorod explodes following Ukrainian attack

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Russian authorities have reported Friday several dead and wounded following an explosion registered in an ammunition warehouse in the Belgorod region, located on the border with Ukraine, after an artillery attack by Ukrainian forces.

The Russian Investigative Committee has indicated that the event took place in the locality of Oktyabrsky and stressed that “as a result of an artillery attack by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, an ammunition warehouse has exploded,” Russian news agency TASS has reported.

“According to preliminary data, there are dead and wounded,” he said, before specifying that among the fatalities there are members of the National Guard. For this reason, the chairman of the Russian Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrikin, has ordered the opening of a criminal case.

On the other hand, Russian anti-aircraft defense systems have shot down several projectiles in the locality of Novoskolskiy, although several power line networks have been damaged by the impact of rocket debris, which has also caused the suspension of rail traffic.

Russia announced on October 7 a two-week extension of the anti-terrorist alert decreed in the Kursk and Belgorod regions, located on the border with Ukraine, because of the latest developments in the war, unleashed on February 24 by the invasion order given by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The regions of Kursk and Belgorod have repeatedly denounced attacks by the Ukrainian Army, in the framework of the invasion launched by order of Putin, who days earlier had recognized the independence of the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, located in eastern Ukraine and the scene of a conflict since 2014.