Blaze engulfs Russian oil depot near Ukraine border

A massive fire erupted at an oil storage facility in the city of Belgorod on Friday morning, just two days after the same Russian region that borders Ukraine was rocked by a series of blasts at an ammunition depot.

The incident happened in the administrative capital of the Belgorod region, located about 35km (21 miles) northeast of the Ukrainian border. Photos and videos of the blaze started making the rounds online around 6am local time.

Two employees at the facility were injured, but their wounds are not life-threatening, according to the regional head, Vyacheslav Gladkov.

“Emergency services are on the scene. We’ll know the cause of the events later,” Gladkov said in a statement on Telegram, announcing that residents of three nearby streets were being evacuated as firefighters struggled to contain the blaze.