Russia accused Ukraine of carrying out an air strike against a fuel depot in the Russian city of Belgorod on Friday, an incident the Kremlin said set an unfavourable tone for peace talks with Kyiv.
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said he could not confirm or deny reports of Ukrainian involvement in the strike as he did not have military information. The Ukrainian Defence Ministry and the general staff did not respond to requests for comment.
Regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on messaging app Telegram that two Ukrainian helicopters struck the facility in Belgorod, some 35 kilometres (22 miles) from the border with Ukraine, after entering Russia at low altitude.
#Ukraine: Early today, 2 Ukrainian Mi-24 attack helicopters flew at extremely low level over the border with Russia & struck the large oil facility in the city of #Belgorod with multiple S-8 series unguided rockets, causing a major fire. Here is the strike/escape in slo-mo. pic.twitter.com/oGs5eayc1c
— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) April 1, 2022
However, Russian oil firm Rosneft, which owns the fuel depot, said in a separate statement that no one was hurt in the fire. The company gave no information on the cause of the fire.
Speaking to reporters on a conference call, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said President Vladimir Putin had been briefed about the incident. Peskov said the strike could jeopardise Moscow’s peace negotiations with Kyiv.