Huge fire at Russian fuel depot put out as drone strikes hit near Ukraine border

Firefighters put out a huge blaze at a fuel depot in Russia’s Ural mountains on Friday, and a series of drone strikes were reported in areas close to the Ukrainian border, one of which also started a small fire at a fuel depot.

The emergencies ministry said it was still investigating the cause of the fire in the Perm region, which is in the Ural mountains 1,500 km (950 miles) away from the Ukrainian combat zone.

Separately, Russia’s Defense Ministry said in a statement that its air defenses had shot down or intercepted 18 Ukrainian drones overnight, including six over the Belgorod region, six over the Voronezh region, one over the Rostov region and five over the Azov Sea. All are near Ukraine.

Voronezh regional governor Alexander Gusev said air defenses had destroyed several Ukrainian drones and nobody had been hurt.

He said firefighters had put out a small fire at an empty storage tank at a fuel depot, which he said on his official Telegram channel had not been damaged.