Vladimir Putin’s air force has admitted to a humiliating missile blunder which blitzed a Russian village 95 miles from the border with Ukraine.
Images show devastation in Petropavlovka, Voronezh region, where at least six houses were destroyed and part of a street was destroyed. A huge crater was seen on the ground and citizens were forced to evacuate. Ukrainian resources: A powerful subsonic missile hit the village after an unspecified Russian fighter jet failed to release it, and officials denied there had been casualties.
A Russian Defense Ministry spokesperson admitted that a missile intended to cause a killing in Ukraine mistakenly hit a Russian village. One text reads: “On January 2, at about nine o’clock in the morning, during a flight of a [Air Force] aircraft over the village of Petropavlovka in the Voronezh region, an abnormal discharge of aircraft ammunition occurred.
“There were no casualties. Six residential buildings were injured. An investigation into the incident cases is ongoing. A commission is working at the site to assess the nature of the injured and the recovery of the houses. “
The twist of fate came when Russia bombed Ukraine with hundreds of missiles, adding a record number of hypersonic rockets. Ukraine’s two largest cities were attacked this morning, killing at least four more people and wounding about 100, officials said, as the war continued. is approaching its two-year mark.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on his Telegram channel that 4 civilians were killed and 92 wounded in the capital, Kyiv, and northeast of Kharkiv, when Kinzhal hypersonic missiles, capable of flying at 10 times the speed of sound, hit city blocks. On Sunday, Zelensky said, Kremlin forces have introduced around 170 Shahed drones and “dozens of missiles of other types” against Ukrainian targets. Most of them targeted civilian areas, he said.
The shelling prolonged the escalation of Russian attacks on Ukraine that began Friday with the largest attack on Ukraine since the start of the war, in which at least 41 civilians were killed. The next day, shelling of the Russian border town of Belgorod killed more than two dozen people.
Russia blamed the attack on Ukraine and has retaliated several times since. The attack on Belgorod was one of the deadliest on Russian soil since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began more than 22 months ago. The Russian government said on Monday that the death toll had risen to 25, bringing the total to five children.
Russian war blogger Callsign Bruce said a “technical malfunction” meant the missile “fell in the Voronezh region, damaging houses.” He continued: “It’s very cool that we recognise this at the official level and do not shift responsibility to anyone. Admitting any of your failures is worthy.
“It would be better, of course, if there was nothing to admit, but anything can happen. I am confident that the regional authorities are already providing all the necessary assistance to home owners. And they definitely won’t leave them to their fate.”
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