Moscow on Friday, accused Ukrainian forces of blowing up a huge oil depot in Russia in an airstrike – an attack that Ukraine denied carrying out.
Russia had warned that the attack could hamper peace talks between the nations, which were due to continue Friday by video. But Ukraine officials scoffed they had nothing to do with the bombing.
“For some reasons, they say that we did it, but according to our information, this does not correspond to reality,” Ukrainian Security Council Secretary Oleksiy Danilov said on national TV.
Earlier in the day, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Ukraine was to blame, according to Agence France-Presse.
“Of course, this is not something that can be perceived as creating comfortable conditions for the continuation of negotiations,” Peskov added.
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 regional Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on Telegram.
Gladkov initially said two employees had been hurt but in an update noted, “There are no victims.” Russian energy giant Rosneft, which owns the facility, also said there had been no injuries.
The strike came after Ukraine’s defense ministry posted a
social media video pretending to announce Oscars-style awards for its military
successes.
This should not stop the two nations to continue with their negotiations to stop this unprofitable war.
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