A fuel depot in Belgorod was engulfed in a fire, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on his Telegram channel early on Friday. The Russian city is neighboring the border with Ukraine.
Gladkov accused Ukraine of being behind the fire without providing further evidence. “The fire at the oil depot occurred as a result of an air attack coming from two helicopters of the Armed Forces of Ukraine that entered the territory of the Russian Federation flying at low altitude. There are no casualties,” Gladkov said.
THE CNN could not verify this claim. The fire “consumed the fuel tanks,” Russian state media TASS reported, citing Russia’s Ministry of Emergency Situations.
Two warehouse workers were injured in the fire, but their lives are not in danger, Gladkov said. Residents in the vicinity of the warehouse are being evacuated, he added. Emergency services are on site fighting the fire and there is no threat to the city’s population, Gladkov said.
THE CNN asked for Ukraine’s comments on reports of an alleged attack by Ukrainian helicopters on fuel storage facilities in Belgorod. Bohdan Senyk, head of the public affairs department of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, said there was “no information” about the incident.
Putin informed: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russian President Vladimir Putin had been informed about the fire.
“The president has been briefed on Belgorod,” he said on a conference call with reporters. “You know that the Ministry of Emergency Situations was sent there. Measures are being taken to reorganize the fueling points so that what happened in no case affects the level of supply of all types of fuel needed.”
The Russian military claimed air superiority over Ukraine.
“Air superiority during an operation is an absolute fact,” Peskov said.
On Wednesday, Gladkov said separate explosions at an ammunition depot in the Belgorod region on Tuesday night may have been due to a fire, citing preliminary information.
Context: Belgorod is close to the northeast Ukraine-Russia border, beyond which lies the main Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. The Belgorod area was used as a base for Russian forces shortly before the invasion, and since then Kharkiv has been relentlessly bombed and hit by missiles.
Source: CNN Brasil
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