Large fire at oil depot in Russia’s Bryansk, near Ukraine

There was no immediate indication the fire at Russia’s Druzhba pipeline at Bryansk – which serves as a logistics base for Moscow’s military operation in its pro-Western neighbour – as related to the war in Ukraine, although Russian officials said last week that Ukrainian helicopters hit residential buildings and injured seven people in the area

Reports suspect of an Ukrainian attack on Russia’s Druzhba pipeline near Bryansk which transfers oil from Russia to Europe on Monday morning. | Photo Credit: Twitter/@AnonOpsSE

A large fire broke out early on Monday at an oil storage facility in the Russian city of Bryansk, the emergencies ministry said, adding that no one was injured.

Russia's Bryansk, a logistics hub for the Russian war on Ukraine, looks like a Ukrainian city this morning, with its huge fuel depots on fire amid unconfirmed speculation about a Ukrainian strike. Image source https://t.co/byqOMn2fQJpic.twitter.com/B2o6uSMESr

— Yaroslav Trofimov (@yarotrof) April 25, 2022

There was no immediate indication the fire was related to the war in Ukraine, although Russian officials said last week that Ukrainian helicopters hit residential buildings and injured seven people in the area.

In a statement, the ministry said the fire took place at a facility owned by oil pipeline company Transneft at 2 a.m. Moscow time (2300 GMT), and there had been no need to evacuate any parts of the city of 400,000 people.

“A fire has been reported at the Transneft Bryansk-Druzhba fuel depot in Bryansk,” around 150 kilometres (93 miles) from the Ukraine border, which serves as a logistics base for Moscow’s military operation in its pro-Western neighbour, the agency quoted the ministry as saying.

BREAKING: Large explosions, fires at oil depot in Russian city of Bryansk pic.twitter.com/pK0OlFMzhx

— BNO News (@BNONews) April 25, 2022

Bryansk is an administrative centre 154 km (96 miles) northeast of the Ukrainian border, near the Sumy and Chernihiv regions, and is about 380 km (236 miles) distant from Moscow, the Russian capital.

Moscow calls its actions in Ukraine, now entering their third month, a special military operation