Russia Mistakenly Bombs Own City
4 min read . Updated: 22 Apr 2023, 12:11 PM IST 
Premium- Several are wounded in Belgorod, in border region hit repeatedly during Ukraine war
Russia said it had mistakenly bombed its own territory late Thursday as Ukraine’s Western backers met to discuss future military deliveries to the country to assist in Kyiv’s expected counteroffensive.
Moscow said that one of its jet fighters had accidentally dropped a weapon over the Russian city of Belgorod near the Ukrainian border, causing an explosion and leaving several injured.
Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of the region, said on Friday that three people were injured in the incident, according to Russian state newswire TASS. The blast left a crater of some 66 feet on a central street in the city and damaged nearby cars and apartments.
Verified security-camera footage of the area posted on social media on Friday appeared to show a powerful explosion near a busy street at night.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said that during a flight of a Su-34 aircraft, “an emergency release of an air ordnance occurred."
The Belgorod region has been regularly hit by explosions and shelling since the start of Russia’s war on Ukraine in February 2022. Mr. Gladkov told Russian President Vladimir Putin in January that 25 people had been killed and 96 injured in the region since the start of the conflict.
While Russia has rained missiles on Ukraine for months, seeking to destroy its critical infrastructure and deplete its air defenses, it has used its air force sparingly on the front line because of what experts said were concerns about Ukrainian air defenses.
But as Kyiv prepares for a spring offensive aimed at recovering some of its lost territory, defense experts expect Russia to increase the use of warplanes.
A recent leak of classified U.S. documents revealed concerns in the U.S. about Ukraine running low on ammunition for its air-defense systems.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin hosted a meeting of roughly 50 allies on Friday at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany to discuss the war and seek fresh pledges of military equipment and nonlethal aid.
The U.S. announced plans to send 31 Abrams tanks to Germany next month and begin training Ukrainian forces on how to operate them. Army Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that while there were no “silver bullets" in terms of types of equipment that could help Ukraine prevail, M1 Abrams tanks, combined with other U.S.-provided battlefield vehicles, could reshape how Ukraine fights.
Germany’s defense minister, Boris Pistorius, also announced a ministers’ agreement to finance a repair and maintenance hub for the fleet of German-made Leopard main battle tanks that allies are sending to Ukraine. The hub will be set up in Poland near the border with Ukraine by the end of May.
A similar hub will be set up in Romania for the German-made Marder infantry fighting vehicles, Mr. Pistorius said.
He added that members of the meeting also agreed to buy ammunition for Ukraine from across the globe until Western industry manages to significantly boost production and begin delivering to Ukraine.
The assembly of what is called the Contact Group at Ramstein Air Base has become a regular event and a focal point of Western efforts to rally support for Kyiv’s efforts to eject Russia’s occupying forces.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday that Ukraine was hoping to be invited to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization this year.
“Neither the majority of Ukrainians, nor the majority of Europeans, nor the majority of the inhabitants of the entire NATO space will understand the leaders of the alliance if a well-deserved political invitation to the alliance isn’t sounded for Ukraine," he said in his nightly address on Thursday. “It is difficult to even say whose contribution to European and Euro-Atlantic security is greater than that of our warriors."
Mr. Zelensky was speaking a day after NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg visited Kyiv for the first time since Russia’s invasion. Mr. Stoltenberg said that Ukraine would eventually become a member of NATO, though he didn’t offer a timeline. Any decision on accepting new members would require unanimous agreement by existing members.
Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said he had met with his U.S. counterpart, Mr. Austin. “We are efficiently and transparently leveraging the assistance that has been provided by the American people," Mr. Reznikov wrote Friday on Twitter. “The enemy will feel the consequences of our agreements."
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday that NATO viewed Russia “as an enemy and encroaches on the security of our country."
“It is obvious that NATO continues its line of absorbing and dragging Ukraine into the alliance," Mr. Peskov told reporters.
Meanwhile, the battle for the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, where Kyiv says fighting has reached its most intense level yet, continued this week. Russia has been pressing an assault with limited gains for months at the cost of tens of thousands of soldiers injured or killed.
On Friday, TASS, citing a local official, claimed that Russian forces had taken control of a part of a supply route used by the Ukrainian forces, cutting off their access.
—Nancy A. Youssef and Bojan Pancevski contributed to this article.
Write to Georgi Kantchev at georgi.kantchev@wsj.com and Ian Lovett at ian.lovett@wsj.com