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A Russian politician said two Ukrainian helicopters blew up an oil depot in Russia on Friday.
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The governor of Belgorod said Ukrainian helicopters launched an airstrike on the city of Belgorod.
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Ukrainian officials denied carrying out the attack, saying it could be a false flag operation.
A Russian politician said on Friday that Ukrainian troops blew up an oil depot on Russian soil during a helicopter attack.
Belgorod regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on Telegram that two Ukrainian helicopters launched an airstrike on the depot in the Russian city of Belgorod, 24 miles north of the Ukrainian border.
There were no casualties, but two oil workers were injured, Gladkov said.
A number of videos have been posted on the Russian social media platform V Kontakte that allegedly show the burning oil factory. Other videos also claimed to show Ukrainian Air Force Mi-24 helicopters flying low over Belgorod.
Insider could not verify the authenticity of the videos.
One was posted by a semi-official Ukrainian military account, with the caption “Ukrainian aviation at work in Belgorod!”
However, when asked about the claims by journalists with the German newspaper BILDA spokesman for the Ukrainian army said Ukraine “does not have this information”.
It added that the attack could be a false flag operation to justify further violence against Ukrainians.
The Russian Defense Ministry has not commented on the incident.
The apparent attack came amid a wider Ukrainian counter-offensive aimed at retaking parts of territory lost to Russia at the start of the war.
In recent days, Ukraine has recaptured a number of towns and cities, such as Trostyanets and Irpin, as well as the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. A US official told ABC News that Russia appeared to have left for Hostomel airport, not far from Kiev.
The gains came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that Russia was preparing to shift the focus of its attacks on Ukraine to targeting the eastern Donbas region.
Zelenskyy said a claim that Russia “radically scaled back” attacks on Kiev was actually a repositioning.
US and British intelligence have warned against using Russia’s troop movements as evidence of a withdrawal.
On Friday, Zelenskyy again appealed to Western powers to provide Ukraine with more weapons.
“We now need more support from our partners. When the Russian army concentrates additional troops in certain areas,” he said.
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