Russian firefighters were battling a huge blaze at a fuel depot near the
border with Ukraine on Friday after an explosion at the facility that the
local governor blamed on the Ukrainian military.

Videos on social media showed two helicopters flying at low altitude
before firing missiles at the depot in the city of Belgorod, causing a
fire that sent clouds of smoke billowing into the sky. Ukraine did not
immediately comment on the attack.

Viacheslav Gladkov, Belgorod’s governor, said in a statement on messaging
app Telegram that the helicopters flew low into Russian territory to carry
out the strike in the early morning. Two depot workers suffered non-life
threatening injuries, Gladkov added.

The incident in Belgorod, which is 40km from the Ukrainian border, would
be the first Ukrainian strike on Russian soil since Vladimir Putin invaded
the country in February.

Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov said that Putin had been informed of
the attack.

https://www.ft.com/content/14db597e-3353-4b82-b412-c62c0247a639

“Obviously this is not something you can say creates friendly conditions
for holding negotiations,” Peskov told reporters, according to Russian
news agency Interfax. He said Russia had “air dominance, that’s an
absolute fact” and denied to comment further on the strike.

It came two days after an explosion at an ammunition depot in Belgorod,
which is just over the border from Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city.
No cause has been given for the explosion.