Russia on Friday acknowledged bombing one of its own cities near the Ukraine border by mistake, saying one of its jet fighters dropped a weapon over the city of Belgorod, injuring several people.

According to regional governor Vyacheslav Gladcov, three people were injured in the blast, reported The Wall Street Journal, quoting the Russian news service TASS. The explosion left a 66-foot crater on one of the city's central streets, damaging apartments and cars. 

The Russian Defense Ministry said "an emergency release of an air ordnance occurred" during the flight of a Su-34 jet fighter. 

The region has often been hit since the war started in February 2022, with Gladkov telling Russian President Vladimir Putin this January that 25 people have been killed there and 96 injured. 

Russia has not often used its air force on the war's front line because of Ukraine's air defenses, but military experts say that will likely change with Kyiv planning for an offensive this spring. 

Meanwhile, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was in Germany on Friday, where he is hosting a meeting of allies to discuss the war and obtain pledges of nonlethal aid and military equipment. 

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday, in his nightly address, said his country hopes that "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. "It is difficult to even say whose contribution to European and Euro-Atlantic security is greater than that of our warriors."

Zelenskyy's comments followed NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg's visit to Kyiv on Wednesday. 

Stoltenberg, visiting the capital city for the first time since the invasion, said Ukraine would eventually join NATO, but he wouldn't say when. 

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Friday said NATO views Russia as an "enemy and encroaches on the security of our country," and told reporters that it is "obvious that NATO continues its line of absorbing and dragging Ukraine into the alliance."

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