An oil storage depot was set on fire in a Russian city just north of Ukraine after what Russia described as an attack by two Ukrainian helicopters.
A video shared on Twitter showed a blaze near apartment blocks in Belgorod, 40km (25 miles) from the border.
Some clips appeared to show rockets hitting the oil depot.
Ukrainian aircraft have not struck targets in Russia previously. Kyiv will neither confirm nor deny the attack.
Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov accused Ukraine of launching the attack, and later Russian defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov gave details.
He said that at around 05:00 Moscow time (02:00 GMT) two Ukrainian Mi-24 helicopters entered Russian airspace at extremely low altitude and “launched a missile attack on a civilian oil storage facility” on the outskirts of Belgorod. Some storage tanks were damaged and caught fire, he said.
“The oil storage facility has nothing to do with the Russian armed forces,” he said.
President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman said the incident “cannot be perceived as creating comfortable conditions for continuing the talks” with Kyiv. So far those peace talks have made little progress.
The spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said Russia was now trying to reorganize the fuel supply chain to prevent disruption of Belgorod’s energy supplies.
The city of 370,000 lies just north of Ukraine’s second city Kharkiv, which has been heavily shelled by Russian artillery and remains surrounded by Russian forces.
Governor Gladkov said in a Telegram message that nobody was killed at the oil depot, which is run by Russian state oil firm Rosneft. He said emergency workers were trying to contain the fire and there was “no threat” to residents. The emergencies ministry posted video of the blaze on Telegram.
Russia’s Interfax news agency reported that residents nearby were evacuated and two people were injured at the depot. It said eight fuel tanks were on fire and nearly 200 firefighters were on the scene.
Later queues of cars formed at local petrol stations, but Mr Gladkov said Belgorod’s fuel supplies were still plentiful.
Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency says the blaze in three of the tanks has been extinguished, but there is still a risk of the fire spreading.
On 29 March several explosions were reported at an ammunition depot near Belgorod.
Commenting on the oil depot blaze, Ukrainian defence ministry spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk said Russian “aggression” was being resisted “on the territory of Ukraine”.
“It does not mean that Ukraine has to bear responsibility for all those catastrophes and all those events that happen on the territory of the Russian Federation. This is not the first time we have seen such accusations. So, dear friends, I will neither confirm nor deny this information,” he said.
Ukraine is yet to claim responsibility for this attack, but if it were confirmed it would be the first time that Ukrainian aircraft have flown into Russian airspace to hit a target. bringing the war home to Russia.
Ukrainian helicopter pilots have plenty of experience of flying low and fast to avoid being detected by military radar and air defence systems. They’ve been doing exactly that in the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine for years. I experienced and witnessed the extraordinary skills of the Ukrainian military pilots in 2018 – flying barely metres above the tree line and telegraph poles.
But if these unconfirmed reports are correct – flying at night, well into Russian territory, to launch an attack on an enemy fuel depot would have required extraordinary bravery – as well as finely-honed flying skills.
Low-flying helicopters are still vulnerable to short-range air defence systems. Flying at night would have lessened that risk, but heightened the danger of hitting an object near the ground.
The Mi-24, or Hind helicopter, is known as the “flying tank”. Its rockets would have been the weapon deployed to target the oil depot in Belgorod, Russia.
This alleged attack alone will not dramatically alter the battle. But it could show Ukraine has managed to keep its air force functioning, and give a huge boost to the morale of Ukraine’s military.
A well-known Ukrainian journalist in Kyiv, Yury Butusov said, that it was a missile attack at 05:50 local time (02:50 GMT) by “two Ukrainian Mi-24 combat helicopters, which flew from Ukraine to Russian Belgorod over low altitudes, inconspicuous for Russian anti-aircraft defence”.
Vladimir Soloviev, host of a staunchly pro-Kremlin current affairs programme on Russian state TV, asked in a tweet: “Question. Who is in charge of the Belgorod air defences? Have the bases of the helicopters that delivered this strike been destroyed? When will a safe zone be set up in Belgorod region?”
Actor will accept ‘any further consequences’ the body’s board considers appropriate after Oscars slap
Will Smith has resigned from Hollywood’s Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences after he slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars ceremony, saying that he “betrayed the trust of the Academy” and will accept “any further consequences”.
In statement released on Friday afternoon, the actor described his actions at the 94th Academy Awards as “shocking, painful, and inexcusable”.
He added: “I betrayed the trust of the Academy. I deprived other nominees and winners of their opportunity to celebrate and be celebrated for their extraordinary work.”
“So, I am resigning from membership in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and will accept any further consequences the Board deems appropriate.”
Smith’s resignation pre-empts official disciplinary action from the Academy board of governors, which met on Wednesday and initiated proceedings against Smith. Smith loses voting privileges with his resignation. But there are other, less tangible benefits to being part of the Academy, Hollywood’s most prestigious organization: it bestows industry credibility on its members. It’s invitation-only, with a once-a-year membership review.
The Academy president, David Rubin, said Smith’s resignation was accepted. “We will continue to move forward with our disciplinary proceedings against Mr Smith for violations of the Academy’s Standards of Conduct, in advance of our next scheduled board meeting on April 18,” he said.
It was not immediately clear what additional punishment Smith could face. Had he been expelled, Smith would have joined a small group of men removed from the academy: Harvey Weinstein, Roman Polanski, Bill Cosby and the actor Carmine Caridi, who was kicked out for sharing awards screeners.
On Sunday, Smith shocked Hollywood and viewers at home when he strode on stage and smacked Rock, moments after the comedian had made a joke at the expense of Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.
The fallout has shaken the industry. While some have rallied around Smith for coming to his wife’s defense, he has been widely condemned for responding with violence and casting a cloud over both his long-sought Oscar victory and the night’s other winners.
Many have questioned why Smith – who later received a standing ovation after winning the award for best actor – was allowed to remain seated front row at the Academy Awards after the incident. On Wednesday, the Academy claimed that it had attempted to remove the actor from the audience.
“Things unfolded in a way we could not have anticipated,” the Academy said. “While we would like to clarify that Mr Smith was asked to leave the ceremony and refused, we also recognize we could have handled the situation differently.”
However, outlets including Variety and the Hollywood Reporter have complicated the account of what exactly took place backstage, with sources saying that Academy leadership did not formally ask Smith leave the ceremony, and that the show’s producer, Will Packer, encouraged him to stay.
“I think what many of us were hoping was that he would go on that stage and make it better,” Packer said in an interview with Good Morning America. “We were hoping that he would make it better, that he would stand on that stage and say what just happened minutes ago was absolutely and completely wrong [and say], ‘Chris Rock, I’m so sorry, please forgive me.’ That’s what I was hoping for. I felt like he was going to win and I was hoping that if he stayed, he said that.”
Smith, who won for his role in King Richard, did not apologize to Rock until the day after the show, when he wrote on Instagram: “I was out of line and I was wrong … I deeply regret that my behavior has stained what has been an otherwise gorgeous journey for all of us. I am a work in progress.”
Rock declined to file charges when asked by police and has remained tight lipped since. Speaking at a comedy show in Boston this week, the comedian briefly alluded to the incident.
“I’m still processing what happened, so at some point I’ll talk about that shit,” Rock told the crowd. “It’ll be serious. It’ll be funny, but right now I’m going to tell some jokes.”
