Russia said Friday that Ukraine bombed a fuel depot in the Russian city of Belgorod, but Ukrainian officials are denying the claim.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said two Ukrainian helicopters flying at low altitude attacked the facility, which is about 22 miles from the border with Ukraine. Video has surfaced online of what appears to be helicopters attacking the depot, and other videos show firefighters putting out the blaze.
Oleksiy Danilov, the head of Ukraine’s Security Council, said Kyiv was not responsible for the attack. “For some reason they say that we did it, but according to our information this does not correspond to reality,” he said.
Earlier in the day, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said he couldn’t confirm or deny the Russian claim. “I can neither confirm nor reject the claim that Ukraine was involved in this simply because I do not possess all the military information,” he said.
Russian authorities said that six of the 24 fuel tanks at the facilities caught fire and said the blaze had been extinguished. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia was taking steps to ensure that the fire didn’t disrupt energy supplies in Belgorod.
The alleged attack came on the same day that Russia and Ukraine resumed negotiations via video link. On Tuesday, officials met in person in Istanbul, and Ukraine put forward a draft peace deal that the Russian side said it would review and respond to.
I am unsure why Ukraine would deny this attack even if they are not responsible as it is a feather in their cap to be launching these types of attacks
If they did not launch the attack then what ?
Domestic terrorism ?
If the US is enabling attacks within Russia then there maybe tit for tat.
This would be great news for Ukraine
Food for thought.
The Russians have no motive to make this up. The attack of a strategic facility inside Russia exposes the strategic failure of the Russian invasion. My guess is that the Kremlin may want to stir up pro-war sentiment among the Russian people.
As for Ukraine, national resistance movements are tactically decentralized with local commanders exercising great initiative. In the final stages of national resistance the movements develop centralized C&C. But now Ukraine is building a decentralized resistance that will play hide and seek with the Russian occupiers. Russia is getting trapped in a war of choice that it can’t win.
Isn’t it amazing how imperialists can’t comprehend the simple principle of blowback that enables national resistance movements to survive and often prevail in asymmetric warfare against superior military powers?
Kuleba is probably right. He doesn’t have the military information because Kiev no longer controls the military, let alone the neo-Nazis. Probably some Ukrainian commander decided to make a Pyrrhic attack on his own. Russia will probably figure it out and trash the source.
If they have the gas to get to the source.
Missiles can get to the source. Your hallucination that Russia is running out gas – gas, for christ’s sakes – is idiotic. Just like everything else you’ve said about this invasion so far.
I suffer from no such hallucination. Having gas, and having gas at depots convenient to use points, are two different things.
You never put down the Kool-Aid for even a millisecond, do you?
Actually Richard is right, Your comments are strange , lately.
It partly explains the Russian army’s debacle so far.
Haha, true.
Given how poor their logistics have been so far, I would say it was a very smart move indeed by Ukraine that will end up saving the life of a lot of Russian soldiers. They never have to cross into Ukraine, a win-win for everyone!
If this is true, whatever Russian commander who was in charge of air-defense in the area should be relieved of command and court martialed.
What idiots don’t realize is that helicopters were undoubtedly used because they can fly “nape of the earth” and be undetected by radar. If Ukraine had used jets, they would have been seen and shot down. This is war, stuff happens. Russia is not about to affected by this pinprick.
Richard, your enthusiasm about the Russian invasion and your uncritical acceptance of Kremlin propaganda reminds me of a 1966 movie about the Czechoslovakian resistance during World War II. One of the characters in “Closely Watched Trains” is a Nazi collaborator who regularly updates the other characters with the latest official spin from the German propaganda ministry. The collaborator explains that after the German victory at Stalingrad the Germans made a strategic withdrawal to fool the Red Army into leaving Russia where they would follow the Germans into a trap in Axis territory. As the movie progresses the collaborator explains that by the Red Army’s advance into Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary was all part of the Nazi plan to lure the Red army deeper into axis territory where they would be trapped with no hope of resupply or escape. Toward the end of the movie the collaborator gleefully boasts that the Fuhrer’s brilliant plan finally succeeded in drawing the Red Army into Germany itself where the Soviets are completely surrounded with no hope of escape when the Wehrmacht’s final attack would annihilate the Red Army . The movie ended before the Wehrmacht defeated the Soviets.
you are referencing a 55 y/o dramatization?
Sorry but no such a thing as invisible helios crossing into Russia to destroy fuel depot. If that were true, Russia would’ve used an entire legion of his best Helios to do the same.
The Russian report is an acknowledgment that Ukrainian forces still have airbourne assets in the fight. It also shows that Russia does not have complete control over Ukrainian airspace or the border between Russia and Ukraine.
In the last few days the Ukrainian navy demonstrated the capacity to destroy a Russian naval vessel in an occupied port and to effectively resist the Russian offensive aimed at Kyiv. The biggest tactical failure of the first month of Russia’s invasion was the inability of Russia to secure the Western borders of Ukraine to stop the free flow of arms from Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Rumania. It is inconceivable that securing the Western border was not a major strategic goal of the Russian offensive.
The Russian offensive is building a classic national resistance movement that has locked Russia into a negative feedback loop. The more Russia fights the resistance, the stronger the resistance becomes. That is blowback and it defeats empires. It doesn’t matter that most Russians believe Ukraine is part of Russia. The only opinions that count are the opinions of the Ukrainian people who see themselves as a nation that has fought against Russian imperialism for centuries. In the end, the Ukrainian people will expel the invaders
Maybe Putin understands blowback. But he is likely surrounded by lesser minds who are seduced by the belief that conventional military superiority guarantees military victory. That didn’t work in Vietnam where the US won every battle only to lose the war and killed between one and two million Vietnamese in a futile effort. What is unfolding in Ukraine is a classical national resistance movement waging asymmetric warfare against a superior military force. The resistance tends to become decentralized with local units taking initiatives. That might explain the apparent confusion on the Ukrainian side.
To summarize, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was a mistake. The only question is how long it will take Russia to realize it’s mistake and how much human suffering Russia will inflict before it withdraws.
It’s kind of strange.
If the Ukrainians did it, “the next war will not be fought on Russian soil” just went bye-bye. That would be embarrassing to the Russians. So why would they make it up? And why would the Ukrainians deny it?
One would expect the Russians to say it was some kind of accident, even if it wasn’t, instead of releasing video of apparent Ukrainian helicopters attacking a Russian target with impunity.
And one would expect the Ukrainians to be claiming it even if it wasn’t them, and asking the Russians if they would like some more of that.
And then there’s the facility itself. One (western MSM) report I came across characterized it as a fuel depot for the Russian invasion forces. If their fuel supply operations are severely disrupted, that could change a number of things.
In the short run Russia can replace the fuel. But I hope Putin has the intelligence to see where this is leading and the courage to reverse course. Nothing like this ever happened to Russia in Syria. The difference is that the in Syria Russia was fighting a foreign invader (ISIS). In Ukraine Russia is the foreign invader. Russia’s opponent is not the Ukrainian military, which cannot prevail. The opponent is Ukrainian nationalism, which has built up over centuries among a people who see Russia as main historical oppressor of Ukraine. The more reprisals Russia takes against the Resistance, the stronger the resistance becomes. Ironically, Zelenskyy and his government now may have more support among the Ukrainian people than they did before the invasion. Putin could have accomplished so much more if he had not launched a preemptive war of aggression.
To summarise differently the West’s scheme to plunder Russia’s wealth as they did in Yugoslavia, Iraq Libya and elsewhere successfully will fall on its nose. period.The whole provocation of Russia was nothing about democracy or freedom.What democracy or freedom exist in the West which is owned and controlled by a bunch of bankers and oligarchs.Best example, the U S of A which preaches democracy and freedom is the most bonded people in the entire world.Deceptive freedom.President, members of congress are all buffoons and puppets controlled by other powers
Curiously enough, nobody is taking credit for it. UkroNazi’sare usually fast to brag or take credit for what they were not even remotely involved in.
My guess is that the pilots are not brainwashed ukranian Nazi’s, they’re from Nato and that goes for the failed attempt to evacuate western advisors from Mariupol too.
I’m not going to accept that Ukrainian helicopters snuck inside undetected and destroyed two fuel depots. But it does help Putin with his argument they have a Zelensky at their gates.