An explosion went off in downtown Belgorod, located near the Russian-Ukrainian border, in the evening of 22 May, Belgorod-Molniya and Bletgorod Telegram channels report. Mash, SOTA, and pro-Kremlin Rybar note that the local FSB Belrogod region office was the target behind the attack.
According to Bletgorod, the street where the FSB office is located was cordoned off following the blast. Mediazona writes that the Belgorod region interior affairs department is located 500 meters away from the FSB office on a parallel street.
Mash claims that “an improvised explosive device was dropped by a drone” to the FSB building roof and that “the drone could have attacked the interior affairs department located nearby”. Preliminary reports suggest that no one was injured. The nearby streets are closed off.
Regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, law enforcement agencies, or emergency services did not comment on the Belgorod explosion. The governor said late in the evening that the Ukrainian army had shelled the village of Borisovka, no one was injured. “An explosive device was dropped from a drone on the roof of an administrative building, the building did not catch fire, no one was injured,” he added.
Later at night, he said that another drone bomb was dropped on a Borisovka administrative building, while two more drones attacked two private houses in Grayvoron. Two hours later, Gladkov reported that an explosive device was dropped from a drone in the Borisovsky district.
The “counter-terrorism operation” order was declared in the Belgorod region on 22 May after the authorities claimed that “a Ukrainian army sabotage and reconnaissance group” made an incursion into the Grayvoronsky district. The order bans dissemination of any information apart from the officially issued reports.
