After Russia bombs own city, explosive found at same site

Seventeen apartment buildings were evacuated Saturday in a Russian city near the Ukrainian border after an explosive device was found at the site where a bomb accidentally dropped by a Russian warplane caused a powerful blast this week, authorities said.

The bomb blast late Thursday rocked part of Belgorod, leaving a large crater and three people injured. The Russian Defense Ministry quickly acknowledged that a weapon accidentally released by one of its own Su-34 bombers caused the explosion.

The ministry said an investigation was underway but did not elaborate on the details of the weapon, which military experts said likely was a powerful 500-kilogram (1,100-pound) bomb.

The governor of Belgorod province, Vyacheslav Gladkov, reported Saturday that sappers examining the site of Thursday's blast found and decided to detonate what he called an "explosive object" that was "in the immediate vicinity of residential buildings."

The precautionary evacuations ended later in the day, according to Belgorod Mayor Valentin Demidov.

"The bomb was removed from the residential area. Residents are being delivered back to their homes," Demidov wrote on Telegram.

Russian authorities did not say if the detonated device was dropped by accident on Thursday and if so, if it was a remnant of or separate from the bomb that exploded in the city.

Belgorod, located about 40 kilometers (25 miles) east of the Russia-Ukraine border, has faced regular drone attacks since Russia sent troops into Ukraine last year. Russian authorities have blamed those strikes on the Ukrainian military, which refrained from directly claiming responsibility for the attacks.

Late Saturday, the governor of the Kharkiv region, Oleh Syniehubov, said five missiles...