On Thursday, local authorities said a fire at an ammunition depot near the border with Ukraine had evacuated residents of two Russian villages.
The fire comes days after explosions occurred at a military base and ammunition depot on the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014. Russia considered what happened at the ammunition depot in Crimea an act of “sabotage” by Kyiv.
The governor of the region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said that “an ammunition depot near the village of Timonovo caught fire,” located less than fifty kilometers from the border with Ukraine in the Belgorod region.
He noted that there were no casualties, but residents of Timonovo and the neighboring town of Soloti were “taken to a safe distance,” adding that the authorities were investigating the cause of the fire.
A video posted to social media shows a giant fireball with thick black smoke rising from it. In another video, several successive explosions could be seen.
The fire, which broke out on Thursday, came at the height of a series of explosions that hit Russian military installations near Ukrainian territory.
In early August, an explosion of ammunition belonging to military aircraft near the Saki military airfield in Crimea killed one person and injured others.
A few days later, explosions occurred at an ammunition depot in Crimea. Moscow considered this an act of “sabotage,” according to a rare Russian confession.
And in a sign of ongoing tensions, Russian air defenses were activated Thursday night near the city of Kerch in Crimea, where a bridge connecting the peninsula to the Russian mainland was built at great expense following the annexation process.
“Air defense systems worked in Kerch. There is no danger to the city and the bridge,” regional official Oleg Kryuchkov said, quoted by Russian news agencies.
These systems are designed to intercept and destroy enemy projectiles or aircraft that penetrate their field of action.
And on Wednesday, Kyiv, through presidential adviser Mykhailo Podoliak, threatened to “dismantle” the said bridge, which is currently being crossed by a large number of Russians traveling to or returning from vacation in Crimea.
Since the beginning of Russia’s attack on Ukraine on February 24, Moscow has repeatedly accused Ukrainian forces of carrying out strikes on its territory, especially in the Belgorod region.
And last month, rockets fell on the city of Belgorod, the center of Belgorod region, killing four people, according to local authorities.
In early April, Gladkov accused Ukraine of shelling a fuel depot in Belgorod with two helicopters.
