Ukraine Accused Of Revenge Airstrike On A Major Russian Fuel Depot

Ukraine was accused of bombing a huge oil depot in Russia on Friday, the first reported revenge airstrike on enemy soil after suffering almost constant bombardment during 37 days of the war.

Videos showed a flurry of rockets piercing the night sky in Belgorod at around 6 a.m. — and then a huge fire raging at the storage depot in the Russian city about 21 miles from Ukraine’s border.

“The fire at the oil depot occurred as a result of an airstrike from two helicopters of the armed forces of Ukraine, which entered the territory of Russia at a low altitude,” Belgorod region governor Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on Telegram.

Ukraine did not immediately acknowledge the accusation — which the Kremlin warned could hamper peace talks between the nations, which were due to continue Friday.

“Of course, this is not something that can be perceived as creating comfortable conditions for the continuation of negotiations,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, according to Agence France-Presse.

Gov. Gladkov initially said two employees had been hurt, but in an update said that “there are no victims.” Russian energy giant Rosneft, which owns the facility, also said there had been no injuries.

All workers were quickly evacuated and at least 170 emergency workers were tackling the blaze, the company and local officials said.

Locals in Belgorod quickly rushed to gas stations, forming huge lines, the regional governor said while insisting that “there are no problems with fuel in the region and never will be.”

Russia has reported shelling from Ukraine before, including an incident last week that killed a military chaplain, but not an incursion of its airspace.

Ukrainian authorities did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The strike came after Ukraine’s defense ministry posted a social media video pretending to announce Oscars-style awards for its military successes.

The best picture was given to the video of Russia’s blown-up warship the Orsk as it brought military supplies to battle, while the best cinematography was for “a kiss from Stinger,” with footage of a Russian helicopter being downed.

The alleged airstrike Friday also came as Ukraine claimed that Russian troops had been forced to leave the heavily contaminated Chernobyl nuclear site.

Ukraine’s state power company, Energoatom, said the pullout at Chernobyl came after soldiers received “significant doses” of radiation from digging trenches in the forest in the exclusion zone around the closed plant. The International Atomic Energy Agency said it could not independently confirm the exposure claim.

Ukrainian forces also retook Sloboda and Lukashivka, two villages along the main supply route between the besieged northern city of Chernihiv and the capital Kyiv, according to Britain’s Defense Ministry.