Explosions were heard in Belgorod, Russia, on 30 December, and wreckage fell in the city centre after the work of Russian air defence.

Source: source of Ukrainska Pravda in security services

Details: It is noted that the Ukrainian Defence Forces struck Russian military facilities in Belgorod Oblast, but unprofessional actions of Russian air defence caused wreckage to fall in the city centre.

According to the Russians, 10 fires broke out in the city after the explosions. An air-raid warning was issued and people were urged to find shelter.

  • disablist@lemdro.id
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    11 months ago

    Ukraine has the right to self-defense, and retaliation.

    But, that doesn’t mean we should believe the propaganda. Nor does it mean that Russia isn’t still ultimately at fault, as these strikes are only happening in response to their brutal invasion and air campaign.

    Seriously, do you believe Russia when they claim the only civilians killed during their missile barrages are from Ukrainian air defense missiles?

    If anything, I assumed this was their ironic “fuck you” press release to mock the way Russia says the same shit every time their missiles hit civilian targets.

    Is it possible this was a result of a Russian air defense system? Sure, but too early to take immediate claims as credible.

    • jonne@infosec.pub
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      11 months ago

      Ukraine doesn’t have a lot to gain by intentionally targeting Russian civilians. They would lose support from the West (because they’re not Israel), and they don’t have the resources to enact a sustained terror campaign like Russia does.

      • aard@kyu.de
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        11 months ago

        There are a lot of Ukrainians and sympathisers in Russia. A terror campaign wouldn’t be with drones, but strategically placed explosives.

      • brain_in_a_box@lemmy.ml
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        11 months ago

        They would lose support from the West

        Extremely unlikely. Nobody has ever lost Western support for targeting civilians before.

        • jonne@infosec.pub
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          11 months ago

          Ukraine isn’t treated the same as Israel. Israel can apparently do whatever the hell they want.

    • Rikudou_Sage@lemmings.world
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      11 months ago

      I mean, what really makes the claim believable is that if you said “incompetent army” almost everyone would think of the Russian army. It’s exactly the level of professionalism I would’ve expected of them.

      • Saik0@lemmy.saik0.com
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        11 months ago

        if you said “incompetent army” almost everyone would think of the Russian army.

        Now… yes. A few years ago? No.

        This is actually good… and really really bad at the same time. We now know that Russia really isn’t a military threat… But… that means that they’ll have to fall back to stupid shit like WMDs much faster if something was to actually break out that wasn’t just a “3 day special operation” against what amounts to a relatively weak country (no offense to any Ukranians in the room).

    • aard@kyu.de
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      11 months ago

      I don’t really care what is was - Russia is fucking lucky that Ukraine was mostly playing nice so far. They could’ve made the chechen activities inside Russia during the chechen wars look like amateur hour if they really wanted to - and if we don’t give them the type of weapons they need to win in the right quantities, with ability and permission to strike airports they use for bombing and supply runs inside of Russia Ukraine eventually might want to.