A Russian state television cameraman was injured in a mine explosion in the western Belgorod region, local authorities said Monday.
“In the city of Shebekino, four people were blown up by a mine, three of them regional defense fighters and one employee of the Rossiya 24 TV channel,” Belgorod region Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on Telegram.
Gladkov described the cameraman’s condition as “serious,” adding that he received shrapnel wounds to his torso and shoulder and was sent to a nearby hospital for surgery.
The governor did not indicate whether the mine was Russian or Ukrainian, nor did he say where exactly the blast took place.
A video report aired by state television showed the cameraman — whose face was blurred — covered in blood and lying on the ground as camouflaged men applied bandages to his wounds. In the video, a reporter claims the mine was placed by Ukrainian forces and “injured civilians.”
It was not immediately possible to verify that claim.
One of the three regional defense fighters injured in the blast was also sent to the hospital, Gladkov said. The two other fighters were not as seriously wounded and would receive outpatient care, he added.
Shebekino lies less than 10 kilometers north of the border with northeastern Ukraine’s Kharkiv region and has repeatedly come under attack since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.