MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Ukrainian helicopters have carried out a strike on a fuel storage facility in Russia’s western town of Belgorod, the local governor said on Friday.
“There was a fire at the petrol depot because of an air strike carried out by two Ukrainian army helicopters, who entered Russian territory at a low altitude,” Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on his Telegram channel.
Two employees at the storage facilities were injured as a result of the fire, he said in another post.
Some 170 personnel were trying to put out the blaze, according to Russia’s emergencies ministry.
Rosneft, which owns the facility, told Russian news agencies that it had evacuated staff from the premises.
On Wednesday, explosions could be heard from an arms depot in Belgorod but the authorities did not provide any explanation for the blasts.
Belgorod lies some 40 kilometres (25 miles) from Russia’s border with Ukraine and some 80 kilometres from the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, which has been pummelled by Russian forces since Moscow launched its war on February 24.
© Agence France-Presse