Belgorod attack: Roof of partially destroyed building collapses on rescuers

Five air sirens went off  in Belgorod and the Belgorod region in the morning of May 12. Half an hour after the beginning of the fifth alarm, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov published a message about a shell that hit a residential apartment building on Kharkov Hill in Belgorod. A whole section of the building — from ground to tenth floor — collapsed as a result of the attack.

Read more: Tochka-U crashes down on apartment block in Belgorod

The Ministry of Defence later said that it was a fragment of a downed Ukrainian Tochka-U missile that hit the building.

There is a kindergarten and a school near the apartment block.

According to Mash Telegram channel, 32 people were hurt, seven people may have been killed, but this information is yet to be specified. About 20 residents of the building may still remain under the rubble.

According to preliminary data, there are two children among the victims. One of them is a two-month-old baby. The baby was hospitalised in serious condition with a concussion, barotrauma, burns to the face, neck and respiratory tract. The second injured child, a 16-year-old teenager, was hospitalised with an open head injury. His condition is also assessed as serious.

About an hour later, the roof, which had withstood the shelling, collapsed directly on the rescuers as they were clearing the rubble. The moment of the collapse was caught on video. The footage shows a concrete slab falling down. Several rescuers were trapped under the rubble.

Emergency services said that the whole building may eventually collapse.

The Investigative Committee of Russia said that criminologists and experts from the central office of the department were sent to Belgorod.

Moscow reacts to Belgorod attack

The Russian Foreign Ministry responded to the emergency in Belgorod. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called the incident "a bloody link in the chain of crimes of the Kyiv regime.” In her opinion, the Ukrainian Armed Forces were conducting targeted fire at civilian infrastructure facilities. This is "signature tactic of Zelensky's criminal group backed by Western sponsors," Zakharova believes.

The authorities of other Russian regions started expressing condolences and offering their help to Belgorod.

As a result of the massive attack in Belgorod on May 12, a total of 62 apartments in three apartment buildings and 11 cars were damaged.

Russian President Vladimir Putin was informed about the collapse of the residential building in Belgorod, Kremlin official representative Dmitry Peskov said. Putin gave all necessary instructions to the governor and EMERCOM chief.