A screenshot captured from video shows firefighters responding to a fire at a fuel depot in the Russian city of Belgorod on April 1. (Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
A fire broke out in a fuel depot in Belgorod, a Russian city near the Ukrainian border, the regional governor said on his Telegram channel on Friday morning.
Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of the Belgorod region, accused Ukraine of being behind the blaze without providing any further evidence.
“The fire in the oil depot arose as a result of an airstrike by two helicopters of the Ukrainian armed forces, which entered the territory of the Russian Federation at low altitude. There are no victims,” said Gladkow.
CNN is unable to verify this claim.
The fire “devoured fuel tanks,” Russian state media TASS reported, citing Russia’s Ministry of Emergency Situations.
A still from video footage shows a burning fuel depot in the city of Belgorod, Russia, on April 1. (Russian Ministry of Emergencies/Reuters)
Two depot employees were injured in the fire, but their lives are not in danger, Gladkow said. Residents near the depot would be evacuated, he added.
Emergency services are on site to fight the fire and there is no threat to the city’s population, Gladkow said.
Around 16,000 cubic meters of fuel are burning in the depot, the Russian state medium RIA Novosti reported on Friday, citing the emergency services.
Eight tanks, each with 2,000 cubic meters of fuel, are on fire and there is a risk of spreading to another eight tanks, the emergency services said, according to RIA Novosti.
CNN has reached out to Ukraine for comment on reports of an alleged attack by Ukrainian helicopters on the Belgorod fuel depot.
Bohdan Senyk, the head of the public affairs department of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said there was “no information” about the incident.
Putin informs: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russian President Vladimir Putin was informed of the fire on Friday.
“The president was informed about Belgorod,” Peskov said in a conference call with reporters. “You know that the Ministry of Emergencies has been sent there. Steps are being taken to reorganize fuel supply points so that in no case what happened will affect the supply of all required fuel types.”
The Russian military has claimed air sovereignty over Ukraine.
“Air superiority during an operation is an absolute fact,” Peskow said. “And what happened probably shouldn’t be us making assessments, it’s our law enforcement agencies.”
Gladkov on Wednesday, citing preliminary information, said separate explosions may have occurred at an ammunition depot in the Belgorod region on Tuesday night.
Some context: Belgorod is near the northeastern Ukrainian-Russian border, beyond which lies the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. The Belgorod area was used as a staging area for Russian forces just before the invasion, and Kharkiv has been relentlessly shelled and hit with rockets ever since.
Video shows major fire in Russian tank farm: