[Watch] Ukraine’s First Airstrike On Russian Soil: Choppers Bomb Fuel Depot

Representational image.

Moscow: Over a month after Russia attacked its neighbour, Ukrainian helicopters on Friday bombed a fuel storage depot in western Russia that started a huge fire, the first airstrike by Kyiv on Russian soil, AFP reported.

The strike took place in the Russian town of Belgorod and marked the first time Russia has reported a Ukrainian airstrike on its territory since the conflict began.

“There was a fire at the petrol depot because of an airstrike carried out by two Ukrainian army helicopters, which entered Russian territory at a low altitude,” Belgorod region governor Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on messaging app Telegram.

Two employees at the storage facility were injured in the fire, he said in another post.

Some 170 firefighters were battling to put out the enormous blaze, which started around 6 am local time.

Russian energy giant Rosneft owns the facility.

Belgorod lies around 40 km from Russia’s border with Ukraine and 80 km from the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.