Emergency workers at the bomb site in Belgorod, western Russia, 6 December 2025. Photo: Pepel
A Russian Air Force plane appears to have dropped a very powerful bomb on the western Russian city of Belgorod, which is close to the Ukrainian border, on Saturday, according to local media outlet Pepel.
City residents reported hearing a powerful explosion on Saturday afternoon, after which eye-witnesses said shrapnel and other debris “rained down” on the city, Pepel reported.
Belgorod region Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov subsequently confirmed the explosion, which he described as the arrival of an “unidentified munition” in the city that had injured one person and led to power outages both in Belgorod itself and its suburbs.
According to Pepel, it was a Russian aircraft that dropped the aerial bomb, which landed near to an electrical substation in the city. Witnesses reported hearing the sound of an aircraft flying towards the Ukrainian border shortly before the explosion.
This is not the first time that the Russian Air Force has bombed Russian cities by mistake. In July 2024, a Russian bomber dropped a FAB-3000 high-explosive, general-purpose aircraft bomb on the Belgorod region. According to Russian propagandists, the FAB-3000 is one of the most destructive non-nuclear weapons in the Russian military’s arsenal.
