Russia hits Ukraine fuel storage site outside Kyiv

A huge plume of black smoke rose from a fuel storage facility in the village of Kalynivka outside Kyiv on Friday, AFP reporters saw, as Russia said it had destroyed the military site with Kalibr cruise missiles.

“On the evening of March 24, Kalibr high-precision sea-based cruise missiles attacked a fuel base in the village of Kalynivka near Kyiv,” the Russian defence ministry said in a statement.

Moscow claimed it was the largest remaining military fuel storage facility in Ukraine, saying it supplied troops in the central part of the pro-Western country.

Ukraine confirmed the strike, saying it had hit around 8 pm (0600 GMT) in the village some 40 kilometres south-west of Kyiv.

Kyiv’s emergencies ministry said there was no threat of the fire spreading outside the oil depot.

AFP saw fireballs leaping into the air from the facility, with a smaller fire blazing from a severed fuel line.

“We saw the explosion, it was very big,” a security guard at the facility said at a checkpoint near the depot, asking not to be identified.

“Fortunately, there were no casualties,” he said.