Russians evacuate homes after bomb found near explosion site

Thousands of residents evacuated their homes in the Russian city of Belgorod Saturday after an undetonated missile was found near the site the country’s fighter jets accidentally bombed earlier in the week.  

City officials ordered roughly 3,000 residents in 17 high-rise apartment buildings near the site of the explosion to leave their homes Saturday, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram. 

“The sappers found an explosive object. Explosive experts of the Russian Defense Ministry decided to defuse it at the training ground,” Gladkov said. 

Video from Russian media showed residents being shepherded out of their homes and onto some of the 90 buses that Gladkov said were arranged to take them to temporary shelters.  

The evacuation came more than a day after a Russian warplane accidentally dropped a bomb Thursday night near the center of Belgorod, just 25 miles from the Ukrainian border, according to Russian Defense Ministry.

“As a Sukhoi Su-34 air force plane was flying over the city of Belgorod there was an accidental discharge of aviation ammunition,” the defense ministry said, according to state news agency Tass.

Dramatic video of Thursday’s explosion shows the road and sidewalks at the site of impact swelling before bursting with flames and detritus.  

Video and pictures of the aftermath showed crumpled cars and gutted apartments, along with debris and other wreckage littering the landscape.

One car that was sent flying from the blast was found upside down atop a supermarket.

Three residents were injured by the explosion, while four apartment buildings and four cars were damaged, and power lines were knocked down, Gladkov said.  

Late Saturday, Belgorod Mayor Valentin Demidov said on Telegram that the bomb was removed and residents were bring brought back to their homes.

With Post Wires