Ukraine war: Russian villages evacuated after fire at munitions depot
- Fire reported in Russia’s Belgorod province, more than100 km from territory controlled by Ukrainian forces
- UN secretary general expected to visit Odesa after meeting the presidents of Türkiye and Ukraine
The residents of two villages in Russia’s Belgorod region on Ukraine’s northeastern border were evacuated after a fire at a munitions depot near the village of Timonovo, the region’s governor said on Friday.
There were no casualties in the late Thursday blaze, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.
The fire came days after another ammunition depot exploded on Ukraine’s Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, a Russian-occupied territory seized by Moscow in 2014.
Last week, nine Russian warplanes were reported destroyed at an airbase on Crimea, demonstrating both the Russians’ vulnerability and the Ukrainians’ capacity to strike deep behind enemy lines. Ukrainian authorities have stopped short of publicly claiming responsibility.
But President Volodymyr Zelensky alluded to Ukrainian attacks behind enemy lines after the blasts in Crimea, which Russia has blamed on “sabotage”.
Meanwhile, Kyiv and Moscow continued to accuse each other of shelling Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, stoking international fears of a catastrophe on the continent.
