Moscow denies fire at Ministry of Defense

The Russian Civil Protection has denied a report of a fire at the Ministry of Defense building in Moscow. A civil protection spokesman told the TASS news agency that firefighters had not discovered the fire. The state agency reported a fire on a balcony of the building on Thursday night, citing a representative of the emergency services.

Smoke can be seen from the building in a video posted online. There was also talk of a strong odor in the area in posts on online platforms.

Earlier this month, according to Russian sources, two drones were shot down over the Kremlin – the official residence of President Vladimir Putin. Russian officials blamed Ukraine for this. Russia has been fighting a bloody war of aggression in Ukraine for over 15 months.