© Sputnik
Many more were injured when an apartment building collapsed as a result of the strike in Belgorod, the local governor has reported
At least 19 civilians died in a series of Ukrainian strikes targeting the Russian city of Belgorod on Sunday, local governor Vyacheslav Gladkov has said. The bodies of 15 victims were taken out from under the rubble of a multi-story building that had collapsed earlier in the day as a result of one of the strikes.
Kiev's forces launched another "massive shelling" targeting the city after the incident, the governor said on Sunday evening. This attack claimed the lives of three more people, including a 17-year-old girl, Gladkov confirmed. Five more suffered various injuries in the strike, according to authorities.
Gladkov added that, in addition to the fatalities, over two dozen people were injured in the strikes. The second strike also damaged 17 apartments in five residential buildings, the governor said. That figure did not include the damage suffered by the partially collapsed apartment block.
Comment: 1) Earlier there was from the same source:
12 May, 2024 09:01
17 injured as section of Belgorod apartment block collapses in Ukrainian strikeThe following article has videos of the rescue efforts and news items that have been reported in subsequent articles, listed further down. We selected a few to illustrate how it developed. Taken as a
case study, it shows what happens in other parts of the world, and what soldiers in war are also exposed to.
12 May, 2024 09:53 Live Updates
Multi-story building in Belgorod partly collapses after Ukrainian strike
Among the updates, on May 12 at 11:07 GMT, 14:07 local time, in case you wonder about the timestamp. there was
A video purporting to show the moment a Ukrainian shell hit the residential building in Belgorod has been shared on social media.
The Russian Defense Ministry has said the apartment block was damaged by fragments of an intercepted Tochka-U missile.
The reason the building collapsed is in part because the foundation was hit, as seen in the video.
An earlier update shows the collapse of the roof:
10:29 GMT
A second collapse has occurred during the search-and-rescue operation at the site of a Ukrainian attack that hit a residential building, the Russian emergencies Ministry has reported.
A video purportedly showing further destruction of the apartment bloc has appeared on social media. In the footage, people - apparently rescuers and volunteers - can be seen running from the scene, as parts of the building fall to the ground.
When they claim in the article that the apartment building was hit by a fragment of a Tochka U, was it something else, considering the following:
13:53 GMT
The shelling of "peaceful neighborhoods" in Belgorod on Sunday morning was carried out with the use of weapons supplied to Kiev by NATO countries, Russia's Permanent Mission to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has stated.
Moscow demands that the organization's leadership "condemn the criminal actions in strongest possible terms," the statement on Telegram reads.
"It is unacceptable to blatantly ignore civilian victims among Russian citizens," in Belgorod, Donbass or elsewhere, the mission added. "There must be no double standards and political 'filters' in the OSCE when it comes to the Kiev regime's obvious brutal violations of international humanitarian law."
One
TG channel wrote in the summary of events the following day:
The Nazis are striking at the peaceful population of the #Belgorod region in response to the advance of Russian troops, . Yesterday, an AFU strike destroyed the entrance of a residential building in #Belgorod, most likely using a French AASM HAMMER aerial bomb. 15 civilians were killed. The AFU is hitting with MLRS, artillery and drones. At night, Novaya Tavolzhanka and #Cheremoshnoye were shelled.
Against the above claim of French ammunition, it can be argued that the TG channel is not official, and besides we have it from the French President himself, pronounced just the day before the attack:
Macron 'hopes' France won't go to war with Russia:
"We have to be dissuasive and credible towards our adversaries sometimes by telling them: 'If you go too far and if you threaten our interests, my own security, then I do not rule out intervening'," he said.
But even if it was not, the 50 sent per month, probably can create a similar amount of damage. The precision is between one and ten meters. About the French AASM HAMMER aerial bomb, the English
Wiki has:
On 16 January 2024, French president Emmanuel Macron announced France would be providing several hundred AASM Hammer precision-guided weapons to Ukraine, at a rate of 50 units per month in 2024.[34][35][36][37] The first reported use of the AASM by Ukraine took place on 5 March 2024.[38]
These bombs can be fired from MIG 29, and F-16, (coming soon) and have an operational range of over 70 km. The standard version weighs 340 kg with a warhead of 250 kg, though the largest are close to three times as heavy.
There was more than one attack:
11:47 GMT
The search-and-rescue operation at the scene of the building collapse has been interrupted twice due to "missile danger" alerts in Belgorod, the Emergencies Ministry has said.
© SputnikEmployees of the Russian Emergencies Ministry work at the site of a collapsed entrance in a residential building damaged by a Ukrainian military strike in Belgorod, Russia.
Notice above that windows in adjacent buildings have been blown out by the shock wave.
The rescue efforts continued throughout the day and longer:
00:04 GMT
The recovery operation has stretched into the night, as rescue teams continue searching through rubble and debris, according to videos from the scene.
Other articles:
12 May, 2024 10:39
Kiev responsible for 'terrorist attack' against Belgorod - MOD
12 May, 2024 14:38
Multiple deaths after Ukrainian strike on residential area - Russian official
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, Ukraine attacked residential areas of Belgorod, using a Tochka-U tactical missile system, as well as Olkha, and RM-70 Vampire multiple launch rocket systems. The ministry further asserted that Russian air defenses intercepted six Soviet-era Tochka-U missiles, four Vampire rockets, and two Olkha projectiles. It was mentioned that fragments of one of the downed Tochka-U missiles had caused damage to a residential building in Belgorod.
2) Notes on the weapons reported, though we suspect there were western weapons too. This may appear a bit tedious, but these weapons are for the war what big expensive cars are for the road, though it is not so about a fancy look, price, and comfort, but their power to destroy.
Tochka-U tactical missile system, the Russian
Wiki has
'Tochka' (GRAU index - 9K79, according to NATO classification - SS-21 Scarab A - 'Scarab', according to the INF Treaty - OTR-21) - a Soviet tactical missile system
The English
Wiki has:
The improved Tochka-U, NATO reporting name Scarab B, passed state tests from 1986 to 1988, and was introduced in 1989.
And:
According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, as of April 2022, Ukraine possessed 38-90 Tochka missile launchers and several hundred missiles.[68]
The Russian Wiki for the
Olkha MLRS, see below, has a comparison of systems. For the Tochka-U, the diameter is 610 mm, the length, 6407 mm. the mass, 2010 kg of which the warhead is 482 kg while the range is 120 km. It reaches an altitude of 6-26 km. When the article says: "fragments of one of the downed Tochka-U missiles had caused damage to a residential building in Belgorod" it could mean that at least the explosive part made a hit, considering the damage. They also do not say how many they did not hit. One reason for firing a lot of missiles and rockets at the same time is that it offers a better change of penetrating the anti missile defence systems.
Olkha multiple rocket launch system, (in Russian), explains:
Ukrainian multiple launch rocket system (MLRS) with new adjustable ammunition, created using some elements of the Soviet 9K58 Smerch MLRS [1][2][3].
The diameter is 300 mm, length 7600mm, the mass 800 kg of which the explosive part is 170 or 250 kg. The range of the standard rocket is up to 130 km, with special rockets up to 202 km. It reaches altitudes of 20-40 km.
RM-70 multiple rocket launcher (The Russian Wiki is more updated, if translated.)
The RM-70 [...] is a multiple launch rocket system (MLRS) manufactured in Czechoslovakia. Czechoslovakian version of the Soviet MLRS BM-21 'Grad'. NATO classification: M1972.
This is a small 122.4 mm rocket. The
maximum range is listed as between 8 and 42 km. Considering that the distance to the Ukrainian border is 35 km, it would have be be fired from near the border, while the others could be, and probably were further away. Ukraine should have eight of those launchers as of 2024.
3) Also related is this article that is now up on SOTT.net:
Kremlin: US covering up Ukrainian terrorism
"The reaction of American officials to the deadly strikes by the Ukrainian Armed Forces on residential areas, or rather the absence of even a hint of condolences, is very telling," Anatoly Antonov told reporters on Sunday.
[...]
"It emphasizes Washington's readiness to do everything to absolve the Kiev puppets of responsibility for their atrocities," he added, while accusing the "independent" international media of ignoring the fact that the city was struck at least ten times in a single day.
"Children, women, and old people are being killed with Western weapons. Some promises by Kiev not to use weapons it received from America on targets in our country are not worth a penny," he claimed, blasting the "ostrich" policy adopted by the West and the reluctance to restrain Ukraine.
"Covering up terrorists is monstrous and inhumane," Antonov stressed. He insisted that the only way to prevent further attacks on civilian infrastructure is to ramp up military operations to push Ukrainian forces away from the Russian border.
In recent months, Belgorod has become the main target of Kiev's attacks, with continued shelling and attempts to break through to Russian territory. A bombardment on New Year's Eve killed 25 people - all civilians - when a rocket hit a festive fair.
In the above list of weapons, only the RM-70 is of foreign manufacture, the rest are Soviet or Ukrainian, but if there were ten attacks on the same day, the Russian MOD may have chosen not to reveal all that happened.
"Covering up terrorists is monstrous and inhumane", but to expect much from Washington except more weapons, is
a pie in the sky, considering that the US has not minded tens of thousands of killed civilians in Gaza and wants more of "fighting Russia to the last Ukrainian". Add to this that
Sen. Lindsey Graham suggests nuking Gaza, says nuking Hiroshima was 'the right decision', and maybe also that
Biden is 'surrounded by fascists' in Oval Office - Trump . Perhaps the statement from the Russian ambassador was most of all a message to the US, that Russia will keep doing what it does, and know who is really behind what comes their way.
Comment: If the objective is to rip America apart from top to bottom, the shredding is well underway. Jonathan Cook has done it justice.