BELGOROD. May 13 (Interfax) - Another section of an apartment building damaged by a Ukrainian attack on Belgorod on Sunday may collapse, Regional Construction Minister Oksana Kozlitina said at a meeting on Monday.
"It [the threat of collapse] remains in a section up to expansion joints," Kozlitina said.
The apartments "adjacent to expansion joints" are undergoing instrumental examination, she said.
The region's governor Vyacheslav Gladkov tasked Kozlitina with drafting an examination conclusion this afternoon, and ordered that the regional public utility minister stop charging utility bills for a damaged home.
"Once the examination conclusion is ready, we should start preparing for an overhaul. Judging from what we can see with a naked eye, some of the structures need to be dismantled. [...] If we decide to keep it, an overhaul will begin, if not, the house will be deconstructed and a new one will be built in its place," Gladkov said.
As reported, an apartment building section collapsed in Belgorod on Sunday because of a Ukrainian attack. Rescuers pulled 15 bodies, including those of two children, from under the debris. Seventeen people were rescued.
Three rescuers were injured in a subsequent collapse.
Tenants of the damaged house were evacuated to a shelter and homes of their relatives.
The Russian Investigative Committee opened a criminal case on terror attack counts following the partial collapse of an apartment building in Belgorod.