The russians bombed Belgorod with rockets of their own production

The Molfar team collected evidence of the russian shelling of their own city. The investigation contains indisputable facts and explains the motives, based on which the terrorist attack was committed. 

"Pantsir" missiles were used for the attack, which russia is developing except for the needs of its own market. The most significant motives of the terrorist attack: 

• the destruction of old buildings in order to build a shopping center in their place;
• the demonization of the Ukrainian military;
• and the intimidation of the population in order to carry out partial covert mobilization in the cities bordering with Ukraine.

Also, the shelling could have happened unintentionally due to the mistake of the russian military, who do not know how to use rocket launchers, which often leads to fire on their own positions.

Data from the propaganda side of the Russian Federation

The Russian Federation stated that on the night of July 3, 2022, from 03:00 to 03:30, a series of explosions occurred in Belgorod, as a result of which 4 people died (later it was announced that 5 died) and another 4 were injured. In total, the authorities reported damage to 21 multi-apartment buildings and 40 private residential buildings on Mayakovsky, Michurin, Chumychova, Popov and Pavlova streets, saying that 5 buildings were completely destroyed.

The governor of the Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said that in the city "a series of loud sounds was heard", after which at least one house on the street caught fire. Mayakovsky, citing the probable cause as the work of the Air Defense Forces. He also stated that 3 of the dead were Ukrainian citizens who had come from Kharkiv: "That is, the government of Ukraine is killing Ukrainian citizens on the territory of the Russian Federation, and this is the absolute height of cynicism that Ukraine has reached in its actions."

Later, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation stated that the cause of the explosions was a "deliberate strike" by the Armed Forces of Ukraine with Tochka-U missiles with cluster munitions, which knocked out Russian air defense systems, but debris from one of them fell on a residential building. It was also reported that 2 people were missing.

Other data

According to the article of the Latvian online publication The Insider, the first stage of the Russian anti-aircraft missile "Pantsir" (which the Armed Forces of Ukraine does not have in service) hit a high-rise building in Belgorod, The Insider claims to have received confirmation from military expert Oleg Zhdanov and CIT investigators.

Adviser to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Anton Gerashchenko also announced the version according to which the explosions and destruction were the cause of the uncoordinated actions of Russian rocket launchers and air defense: since at night from the Belgorod region there were launches on Kharkiv and Kharkiv region (at approximately 4 a.m.) from Iskanders and Kalibrs, the Russian air defense systems shot down precisely these missiles over Belgorod.

Explanation of events

On July 3, during the shelling of Kharkiv and the region from the Belgorod region, the Tochka-U and Pantsir missiles malfunctioned and flew in the direction of residential buildings in Belgorod, that is why they were shot down by Russian air defense systems or they shot them down by mistake. However, in both cases, the propaganda of the Russian Federation "should have" named Ukraine as the culprit, so as not to voice its own mistakes. Moreover, a week ago, residents of Belgorod published a video, when a rocket was launched from the city, but it spun in the air and fell to the ground.

There is also an option of a targeted launch of rockets in the city center in order to intimidate the locals and motivate the possible mobilization of the population.

Chronology of events

• at the beginning of the third hour at night, there are reports of explosions;

• during the third explosion is visible when some object is blown up, a cloud of black smoke appears, after which an explosion on the ground and a glow appears;

• it was reported that the fire started in the house at the street Mayakovsky, 23, a part of the Tochka-U missile was found this morning at the address of the street. Mayakovsky, 21, and part of the "Pantsyr" rocket got stuck at the address of the street. Narodniy Boulevard, 105 (distance to Mayakovsky ~2 km). Point-U missiles are in service both in Ukraine and the Russian Federation. According to the marking, this is the 9M79-1, the same missile was used in the attack on the center of Donetsk on March 14, 2022, the Molfar team had already done an investigation about fake statements-accusations of the Russian authorities towards Ukraine.

Errors of Russian propaganda

1. the Russian Federation announced a series of explosions from 03:00 to 03:30 (the time in Belgorod coincides with the time in Ukraine), on the channel "Zhest Belgorod'' first reports about several "clap" in the sky appeared at 03:16, 03:19 a video with a "clap" was released at 03:24 and at 03:26 a video with an explosion, at 03:31 – another video. At approximately this time – at 03:07 an air alarm began in Kharkiv, at 03:13 there were reports that air defense had shot down 2 missiles in the region, the following reports (1, 2) about shelling of Kharkiv and Kharkiv region from Belgorod region were at 4 in the morning. Based on the chronology of events, the missile that was shot down at 03:16 in Belgorod should have reached Kharkiv;
2. The consequences of damage to buildings from one downed missile were reported, but the total number of damaged buildings was 61, and 5 were completely destroyed (1, 2, 3). Although there is confirmation of the "shooting down" of one missile, it cannot be claimed that it was only one, since the distance between the wreckage of "Point-U" and "Pantsyr" is almost 2 km, and the zone of affected buildings stretched for more than a quarter;

3. In one of Kharkiv's channels, a made public dialogue from the Blatgorod Chat, where one of the users forwarded a week-old video of a rocket flying into the sky, turning and flying down again, almost to the same place from where it was released, in response to a message about the probable work of anti-aircraft defense in Belgorod. That is, the residents of Belgorod themselves assume that this was another mistake of the Russian army; 
4. The wreckage of the downed "Point-U" missile looks too intact, they have several holes, but there are no dents and the missile itself is not compressed. Therefore, probably, among the missiles that hit Belgorod were those that did not shoot down the anti-aircraft defense.

For comparison, we present a photo of the wreckage of the rockets that were shot down by air defense over the Dnipro city.

5. In the closed Telegram channel “PPM Belgorod” messages about the “benefit and convenience” of explosions for Governor Gladkov: he is associated with the construction business, which had long planned to build a commercial center on the site of destroyed buildings;
6. On the parts of the rocket in the middle is the inscription "Pusto" (“Empty”). In the Ukrainian language there is also the word "Pusto", it can be used as an incorrect form of the word “Empty”. In Ukrainian more often it is used the correct official form "Porozhnio" or "Porozhnia" (about a rocket), "Porozhniy" (about a fuse).