Russia's military mistakenly dropped a drone on a kindergarten near to the Ukrainian border, according to a report, in what appears to be the latest incident involving Moscow's forces accidentally striking their own territory.
Independent Russian outlet Astra reported on its Telegram channel on Tuesday that a Lancet kamikaze drone was dropped on the territory of a kindergarten in the village of Oktyabrsky, in the Belgorod region. The drone didn't explode, and 47 children and 30 kindergarten employees were evacuated from the area by security forces.
Newsweek couldn't independently verify the report and has contacted Russia's Defense Ministry by email for additional comment. The Kremlin hasn't commented on the reported incident.
There have been numerous incidents reported this year that involved Russia's military accidentally dropping munitions and missiles on its own territory. Astra previously reported that, in March and April alone, Moscow's forces mistakenly dropped at least 21 aerial bombs from their aircraft on Russian soil or on occupied territories of Ukraine.
The Moscow Times reported on Thursday that at least 25 aerial bombs have been dropped by Russian aircraft on its own territory, or territory Putin has proclaimed to have annexed from Ukraine, since the beginning of spring. There have been 33 such incidents since January, the publication said.
Russian authorities have typically acknowledged the dropping of munitions on its territory, but tend to cover up the incidents. They say that there was "an abnormal discharge of ammunition," Astra noted. Moscow has added that there have been emergency releases of aviation munitions.
The Belgorod region is located near the Ukrainian border and houses several Russian military bases and training grounds. The region has been rocked by explosions throughout Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, with local authorities regularly reporting unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the area.
Just days ago, on May 4, open-source intelligence accounts and Ukraine-aligned media said that munitions were mistakenly dropped on Belgorod by a Russian jet carrying out guided glide-bomb strikes on the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.
A guided bomb "fell right on a residential sector and exploded," Anton Gerashchenko, a former adviser to Ukraine's Interior Ministry, said of the incident.
And on Tuesday, a Russian jet dropped a bomb on the village of Vorontsovka in Russia's Krasnodar region, Astra reported.
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Isabel van Brugen is a Newsweek Reporter based in Kuala Lumpur. Her focus is reporting on the Russia-Ukraine war. Isabel ... Read more
