Huge crater, more than 1,700 evacuated in Belgorod munition incident

Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov reported on a munition crater among residential buildings on Gubkin Street in Belgorod on 21 January at 18:29. Miraculously, there were no casualties. All emergency services and Defense Ministry explosive ordnance disposal technicians immediately rushed to the scene. Operational and municipal services began going door-to-door and started evacuating residents using several buses. Those who had nowhere to stay were provided with shelter at a temporary accommodation center.

On the morning of 22 January, Gladkov published photos and videos from that very spot on Gubkin Street, where an operational headquarters has now been deployed. The footage shows the crater itself and the work of special equipment that dug a pit to reach the munition.

According to the regional head, more than 1,700 residents have been evacuated from nearby houses, about fifty of whom are at a temporary accommodation center. In the area where the work is being carried out, traffic has been blocked and minibus routes have been changed — this is the section of Gubkin Street from Sportivnaya to Budyonny. Belgorod Mayor Valentin Demidov emphasized that residents of houses near the emergency site cannot return home yet and must wait until the explosive technicians complete their work.