Russian cruise missile veered off course and struck a village in the Voronezh region, which borders eastern Ukraine, according to local media reports.
Russian local media relayed footage of the aftermath, depicting damaged homes and structures in Petropavlivka, where the missile, purportedly a Kh-101 launched from the Caspian region, crashed.
Videos captured by locals showcased a street lined with single-story buildings in an unknown location within Petropavlivka. Approximately ten homes bore the brunt of the explosion, some left roofless while others lost windows and doors. The footage also revealed a crater roughly one meter deep and 3-5 meters wide.
A resident, recording the devastation, lamented the loss, stating, “There’s no street left, everything burned, everything blown away,” expressing hope that such incidents would not recur.
Meanwhile, a malfunctioned (?) Russian missile wipes out an entire street in the town of Petropavlovka in Russia’s Voronezh Region.
Why would anyone want and need this endless idiocy, I’ll never know. pic.twitter.com/PbgtFZsUBP— Illia Ponomarenko 🇺🇦 (@IAPonomarenko) January 2, 2024
The incident in Petropavlivka reportedly occurred at 8:38 local time (7:38 Kyiv time) as indicated in a Telegram channel post, initially misattributed by Kremlin-affiliated media to alleged Ukrainian Armed Forces shelling. It’s important to note that Petropavlivka is approximately 200 kilometers from the Ukrainian border in the Ostrogozhsky district of the Voronezh region.
At 10:17 local time, Voronezh region governor Oleksandr Gusev addressed the incident, attributing it to an “accidental munition discharge” in the Ostrogozhsky district, damaging seven buildings. He reassured that no casualties resulted from the explosion, which ravaged houses along an entire street.