Russia-Ukraine war live updates: Russia cuts gas supply to some E.U. states; former Marine Trevor Reed freed
An adviser to Ukraine’s president said reports of explosions overnight in the Belgorod, Voronezh and Kursk regions of Russia are “karma” — without claiming responsibility for the attacks.
“If you [Russians] decided to attack another country en masse, kill everyone there en masse, crush civilians with tanks en masse, and use warehouses in your regions to ensure the killings, then sooner or later the debts will have to be repaid,” Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said in a Telegram post written in Russian. “And therefore the disarmament of the murderers’ Belgorod-Voronezh warehouses is an absolutely matter-of-course, natural process. Karma is a cruel thing.”
Russian media, citing local officials, said Wednesday that explosions were reported overnight in three Russian regions near Ukraine’s eastern border, including Belgorod, where Kremlin officials earlier this month accused Ukraine of carrying out a helicopter attack against a fuel depot.
Podolyak cited “different reasons” — including possible “divine intervention” — for the alleged attacks but did not say who was behind them.
Belgorod’s regional governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said authorities had extinguished a fire at an ammunition depot after explosions were heard in the city. No residential buildings or houses were destroyed, and there were no civilian casualties, he said. The governor didn’t speculate on the possible cause of the fire. Russia previously accused Ukraine of being behind the attack against the Belgorod fuel depot in early April. Ukraine did not comment on whether it was responsible.
Russia’s state-owned news agency Tass said Wednesday that “two loud bangs” were heard overnight in Voronezh, some 200 miles from Ukraine, quoting a Russian official. It was not clear what caused the blasts. Russia Today, another state-owned media outlet, said that a Ukrainian drone was shot down over Kursk, just over 70 miles from Ukraine, citing regional Gov. Roman Starovoit. According to RT, Starovoit said “no one was hurt, there was no damage. The military, special services and the regional administration are in full control of the situation, there is no cause for concern.”
The various claims could not be independently verified. If confirmed, they would add to the mystery surrounding a string of unexplained fires reported in recent days at strategic locations in Russia. The country’s state-owned media reported that the latest fire, which happened Monday at two oil storage depots in Bryansk, a Russian city near northern Ukraine, was triggered by explosions.
Annabelle C. Chapman contributed to this report.