Africa
A fire broke out at a fuel depot in southern Russia near the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, Russian authorities said on Wednesday.
The report said attacks on infrastructure in Russian territory were on the rise.
“A fuel reservoir caught fire in the village of Volna in the Taman district,” the governor of the southern Russian region of Krasnodar, Veniamin Kondratyev, said on Telegram on Wednesday.
There were no deaths or injuries.
However, the fire was classified as particularly serious, he said on the messaging app.
The outskirts of Volna were home to large terminals for oil and oil products, which were then shipped across the Black Sea.
According to media reports, a cistern containing 20,000 cubic metres of fuel caught fire.
Smoke and flames could be seen as far as the Crimean Peninsula opposite, which Russia illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014, the reports said.
The fire currently covers an area of 1,200 square metres, the head of the district administration Fyodor Babenkov had announced.
He said the fire brigade was trying to contain the flames and prevent them from spreading to other cisterns.
The cause of the blaze was initially unclear.
Attacks on infrastructure objects in the south of Russia have become more frequent in recent days.
At the weekend, a fuel reservoir in Crimea was blown up by a drone attack.
In the western Russian region of Bryansk, two trains derailed after explosions.
All these regions were close to Ukraine, against which Russia had been waging a war for more than 14 months.
As Kiev was expected to launch a counter-offensive to recapture Russian-occupied territories soon, the attacks have been perceived as potential preparation for the operation. (dpa/NAN)
A.
Tags: Veniamin Kondratyev
