Oct. 16 (UPI) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky alleged that Russia has lost nearly 65,000 troops as explosions in Russia’s Belgorod region injured multiple people Sunday.
“So many citizens of Russia gave their lives for the possibility of a handful of people in the Kremlin to ignore reality,” Zelensky in his nightly address Saturday.
“And according to the way the Russian ‘burial operation’ continues, we can say that even 100,000 dead Russian citizens will not prompt the Kremlin to think a little bit.”
Explosions were recorded Sunday in the Russian region of Belgorod, across the border from the Ukrainian province of Kharkiv, with multiple people reported to have suffered injuries, Russian officials said.
Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of Russia’s Belgorod region, said in a statement on Telegram that three victims were reported in one family including two men with shrapnel wounds who were treated at a local hospital. Another woman injured received care at the scene.
“There is minor damage to houses, fences and cars. Emergency services are on site,” Gladkov said. “The task of the administration of the city of Belgorod is to assess the damage, make measurements of windows and begin restoration work.”
Gladkov added in another statement that another victim, described as a grandfather, suffered a concussion and received medical care.
“At the moment, damage has been recorded in more than 20 households,” Gladkov said. “For those houses that were at the epicenter of the explosion, we will conduct an additional examination.”
In the urban district of Shebekinsky, another man was reported to have stepped on a mine and lost his foot, Gladkov said.
“Dear residents of the region! As a result of previous shelling, it is now dangerous in the forests of the Belgorod region. I ask you to refrain from visiting forest belts in all border municipalities,” he said.
Ukrainian officials have not commented on the explosions, maintaining a policy of silence on incidents behind Russia’s borders.
The explosions came just a day after two gunmen killed 11 people and wounded 15 others in an attack on a military training ground in the Belgorod region.
It also comes after three people were killed in an explosion on a bridge linking Russia to the Ukrainian territory of Crimea, which was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014 in the leadup to the current war.
The British Defense Ministry, which has provided intelligence updates throughout the course of the war, said Sunday that Russia “probably fired more than 80 cruise missiles into Ukraine” in a strike last week in retaliation for the attack on the Kerch Bridge.
“Ukraine’s Defense Ministry reported that more than half of the projectiles were shot down, but dozens struck Kyiv and other population centers, killing civilians and damaging civil infrastructure,” the British Defense Ministry said.
“Russia’s defense industry is probably incapable of producing advanced munitions at the rate they are being expended.”
