Jan 21 (Reuters) – Authorities in the Russian city of Belgorod evacuated residents of some high-rise apartments on Wednesday as specialists dealt with ammunition that landed in a city street, creating a large crater.
“Defence Ministry explosives experts are at the site. Residents of nearby houses must be evacuated to a safe location,” Regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on Telegram.
“City services are going from apartment to apartment and organising evacuations.”
Belgorod is about 40 km (25 miles) from the Ukrainian border. The region around the city has been the focal point of numerous Ukrainian strikes in the nearly four-year-old war pitting Russia against its smaller neighbour.
Photos posted on unofficial Telegram channels showed a large crater. It was not immediately clear what sort of ammunition was at issue and where it had come from.
Belgorod Mayor Valentin Demidov said on Telegram that buses had been parked near the site to enable residents to move.
“It is important to wait for the explosives experts to complete their work,” Demidov said. “We need to be 100% certain that nothing poses a threat to residents’ lives.”
(Reporting by ReutersEditing by Rod Nickel)
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