The governor said Friday that residents of two villages in Russia‘s Belgorod region on Ukraine’s northeastern border were evacuated after a fire broke out at a munitions depot near the city of Timonovo.
Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said there were no casualties in the fire that broke out late Thursday.
The fire came days after an explosion at another ammunition depot on Ukraine’s Black Sea peninsula in Russia-occupied Crimea, seized by Moscow in 2014.
Last week, nine Russian warplanes were reported destroyed at an air base in Crimea, demonstrating the vulnerability of the Russians and the Ukrainians’ ability to strike deep behind enemy lines. Ukrainian officials have refrained from publicly claiming responsibility.
But President Volodymyr Zelensky pointed to Ukrainian attacks behind enemy lines after the blasts in Crimea, which Russia has blamed for “sabotage”.
Meanwhile, Kyiv and Moscow continued to accuse each other of shelling Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, sparking international fear of devastation on the continent.
On Friday, Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of Russia’s Security Council, accused the United States of encouraging Ukrainian attacks on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine. Russian forces controlled the facility shortly after the invasion began on Feb. 24.
“In case of a technological disaster, its consequences will be felt in every corner of the world,” Patrushev said. “Washington, London and their accomplices will bear full responsibility for that.”
Ukraine has accused Russia of storing troops and weapons at the Zaporizhzhia plant and using its grounds to launch strikes against Ukrainian-controlled territory. Ukrainian officials and military analysts say Moscow’s forces have cynically employed the plant as a shield, knowing that the Ukrainians would be hesitant to fire back.
Russia has denied the accusations and, in turn, accused Ukrainian forces of repeatedly shelling the plant.
Following a visit to Ukraine on Thursday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Zelenskyy had asked him to ensure that Russia removed weapons stored at the plant as an “important step for world peace.”
“Zelenskyy asked this of us especially: that Russia remove all mines and similar (weapons) there and for the issue to cease to be frightening rapidly. Because it is a threat,” Erdogan said.
Erdogan, whose country has maintained close ties with Ukraine and Russia, said he would discuss the issue with Russian President Vladimir Putin, adding, “Russia should play its part in this regard.”
The Turkish president made remarks to a group of Turkish journalists on his return from a trip to Ukraine late Thursday with Zelensky and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency and other media reported his remarks on Friday.
At the meeting in the western city of Lviv, far from the front lines, the leaders discussed expanding prisoner of war exchanges and arranging for UN nuclear energy experts to help secure the nuclear power plant.