Blaze at Russian fuel depot near Ukraine border

This video grab taken from a handout footage released by the Russian Emergencies Ministry on April 1, 2022 shows firemen working to extinguish a fire at a Rosneft fuel depot in the town of Belgorod, some 40 kilometres (25 miles) from Russia’s border with Ukraine. AFP

MOSCOW—A large fuel depot in a Russian town near the border with Ukraine was on fire Monday, the emergency situations ministry was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.

“A fire has been reported at the Transneft Bryansk-Druzhba fuel depot in Bryansk,” around 150 kilometers (93 miles) from the Ukraine border, which serves as a logistics base for Moscow’s military operation in its pro-Western neighbour, the agencies quoted the ministry as saying.

“According to preliminary information, there are no injuries,” the ministry added.

The cause of the blaze is not yet known. But it broke out at 2:00 am (2300 GMT) in the Fokinsky district of Bryansk, the local branch of the emergency situations ministry said.

The emergency and fire services had rushed to the scene.

Images broadcast on Russian media showed flames and smoke in the night sky over Bryansk.

Interfax news agency reported that it was the second such blaze at a fuel depot in the region recently, but the information could not immediately be confirmed independently.

Russia has repeatedly accused the Ukrainian forces of launching strikes against on its soil, notably in the Bryansk region in mid-April.

At the beginning of April, the governor of the Belgorod region, which is also close to the Ukraine border, said that Kyiv helicopters had fired at a fuel depot there.

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