Fire flares up at Russian arms depot near Ukraine

An arms depot in a Russian village near the border with Ukraine was on fire Wednesday, the local governor said, as Russia's military campaign in its pro-Western neighbor enters its third month.

"According to preliminary information an ammunition depot is on fire near the village of Staraya Nelidovka" around 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the Ukrainian border, the governor of Russia's Belgorod region said on Telegram.

Vyacheslav Gladkov said that the fire had been put out and there were no injuries among civilians or damage to residential buildings.

The cause of the fire was not immediately clear.

Separately, the governors of the neighboring Kursk and Voronezh regions -- also near the border with Ukraine -- said air defense systems were triggered during the night.

"There are no casualties or destruction," Kursk governor Roman Starovoyt said on Telegram, while Voronezh region governor Alexander Gusev said their air defense system "successfully destroyed" a small reconnaissance drone.

The governor did not say where the drone came from.

Russia has repeatedly accused Ukrainian forces of launching strikes on its soil, warning that in response Moscow's troops will intensify attacks on Ukraine's capital Kyiv.

On Monday, a fuel depot was on fire in the Bryansk region, also near Ukraine.

In early April, Gladkov said that Kyiv helicopters had fired at a fuel depot there. —Agence France-Presse