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According to a statement by Belgorod region governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, two Ukrainian military helicopters attacked an oil depot in the Russian city of Belgorod, resulting in a fire.
Ukraine neither confirms nor denies reports of Ukrainian implication in the fuel storage facility fire, Ukrainian Defense Ministry spokesman Olexandr Motuzyanyk said.
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Motuzyanyk said Ukraine has been conducting a defensive operation to roll back the Russian military operation in Ukraine, launched in late February. In this respect, he said that "this does not mean that Ukraine should be responsible for all miscalculations, all catastrophes, and all the events taking place in Russia."
Moscow, for its part, claimed that such an attack was detrimental to the future of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the alleged Ukrainian helicopter attack on the oil facility located in Russian territory would not be helpful for future peace negotiations with Kiev.
The governor of the Belgorod region said that the fire at the oil depot resulted from an air raid conducted by two helicopters of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which entered Russian airspace at a low altitude.
2-Ukrainian MI-24 attack helicopters reportedly slipped across the border and fired on an oil depot in the city of Belgorod, injuring 2-people.
— Meta Stone�� (@Ii2Barrett) April 1, 2022
It’s the first airstrike that Russia has reported on its territory since the start of the war.
�� Russian Ministry of Defense pic.twitter.com/L0kvIdndIb
The governor said that there was no danger to civilians and that all emergency services were on the scene. He also said that two oil depot workers had been injured in the fire, but the injuries were not life-threatening, Gladkov added.
The Russian Defense Ministry has not made any public comment on the incident. Likewise, the Ukrainian General Staff did not make any comment on the accusations, denying either to confirm or refuse such claims.
Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a special military operation in Ukraine on February 24 after Ukraine's non-compliance with the terms of the Minsk agreements signed in 2014 and Russia's eventual recognition of the Donetsk and Lugansk republics. Moscow has requested Kiev to officially state a neutral status, guaranteeing that the country will never become a NATO member.
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