Russia Accidentally Fires Missile on Itself

A Russian aircraft accidentally dropped a missile on a village in Russia's western Voronezh region on Tuesday morning, destroying multiple homes, officials said.

In a rare admission, Russia's Defense Ministry said one of its own warplanes dropped explosives on the village of Petropavlovka, damaging at least six privately owned buildings. Videos circulating on social media showed a huge crater in the ground, caused by the explosion, and scattered debris.

It came as Russia launched a massive barrage of missiles and drones against Ukraine on Tuesday, striking the capital Kyiv and the Kharkiv region, killing at least four people and injuring at least 92 others.

"At around 9:00 a.m. on January 2, while an air force plane was flying over the village of Petropavlovka in the Voronezh region, there was an emergency release of aviation munitions," the defense ministry said in a statement.

"An investigation is underway into the circumstances of the incident. A commission is working on-site to assess the nature of the damage and assist in the restoration of buildings," it added.

Newsweek has contacted Russia's Foreign Ministry for comment via email.

"Russian authorities confirmed that a Russian missile fell in Russian Voronezh region," Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine's minister of internal affairs, said on X. "The information was officially confirmed by Voronezh region governor Gusev. He called the incident 'an emergency descent of ammunition.'"

"During Russian missile attacks on Ukraine, Russians in the regions that are on the missiles' path should go to shelters, it follows," Gerashchenko added. "The Russian army is a threat to Russians."

Igor Novikov, a former adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said the incident was "karma" for Russia's missile blitz on Ukraine on Tuesday morning.

"Karma in action: one of the missiles decided it had enough and landed in a village outside of Voronezh, Russia," Novikov wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Tuesday.

The videos in the tweet below contain some profanity in Russian.

Voronezh regional Gov. Alexander Gusev said there were no casualties, and that residents of several streets in the affected village were being relocated to temporary housing. He said on his Telegram channel that an assessment of the damage caused will soon be carried out, and asked citizens to remain calm.

Telegram channel Baza, which has links to Russia's security services, earlier reported that the explosion damaged "an entire street" in the village.

Zelensky said in a statement on Tuesday that in the past three days, Russia has fired "170 'Shahed' drones and dozens of missiles of various types" against Ukraine.

The Ukrainian leader said Russia used almost 100 missiles on Tuesday.

"At least 70 missiles were shot down. Nearly 60 of them were intercepted in the Kyiv area," he said.

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