A fire broke out at a fuel depot in Belgorod, a Russian city near the Ukrainian border, the governor told the Telegram channel on Friday morning. Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of the Belgorod region, accused Ukraine of being behind the flames without providing further details. “The fire in the oil depot was caused as a result of an air raid by two helicopters of the Ukrainian Armed Forces that entered the territory of the Russian Federation flying at low altitude. “There are no casualties,” Gladkov said. CNN is unable to verify this claim. The fire “suffocated fuel tanks”, Russian state media TASS reported, citing the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations. Two warehouse workers were injured in the blaze, but their lives are not in danger, Gladkov said. Residents near the depot are being evacuated, he added. Emergency services are on the scene to fight the fire and there is no danger to the city’s population, Gladkov said. On Wednesday, Gladkov said separate explosions at an ammunition dump in the Belgorod area late Tuesday night may have been caused by a fire, citing preliminary information. Frame: Belgorod is located near the northeastern Ukrainian-Russian border, beyond which is the largest Ukrainian city, Kharkiv. The Belgorod area was used as a base for Russian forces shortly before the invasion, and Kharkiv has since been relentlessly bombarded with rockets.
