A deadly fire today broke out at a Russian FSB building located 75 miles from Ukraine after ammunition detonated in a warehouse.
A series of explosions rocked the building, which belongs to the FSB’s border patrol section, before it burst into flames in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don this morning.
One person was killed and two others were injured after the raging inferno ripped through the building.
Video shows the building engulfed in flames, as a plume of thick black smoke billows into the air in a built-up area of the city.
Eyewitnesses claimed that ammunition detonated in the FSB’s warehouse, leaving at least person dead, reports Tass news agency.
Video shows the building enveloped in flames, as plumes of black smoke fill the air
A fire broke out at a building belonging to the border patrol section of Russia’s FSB federal security service in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don on Thursday
Local residents reported hearing explosions before the building burst into flames in the southern Russian city of this morning, TASS news agency reports
A series of explosions were heard every 10 seconds after the ammunition caught fire, eyewitnesses said.
‘The explosion was very loud, not a pop. We heard one explosion, acquaintances who live closer to the place of the fire claim that there were two, but we clearly heard only one,’ a witness who lives close to the FSB building told Russian news outlet 161.ru.
Another eyewitness said: ‘The building just exploded right in front of my eyes. I was chatting on the phone when it exploded.
‘Windows all flew out, everything collapsed. I think some must be injured inside there.
‘The explosion was so strong the rooftop rose up and fell back. Something big exploded inside there. There are servicemen inside there.’
The eyewitness told how an FSB officer said to the crowd: ‘Why the f*** are you f***ing about, run! We need fire extinguishers, quick!’
Local authorities said they had dispatched emergency services to the area which has been cordoned off.
‘Emergency services were dispatched… details are being clarified,’ the press office of the emergency services in Rostov-on-Don said in comments carried by the state-run TASS news agency.
The emergency services said that the fire had expanded to cover 880 square metres of ground.
‘On the territory of the border department of the FSB, a fire broke out on the second floor of a two-story brick building on an area of 880 square meters. The fire was assigned the second number of complexity,’ the emergency services said.
A source earlier claimed that the fire broke out in a one-storey detached building which belongs to the FSB.
Smoke rises near a building belonging to the border patrol section of Russia’s FSB federal security service in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don, Russia, on Thursday
People gather in a street, as smoke rises near a building belonging to the border patrol section of Russia’s FSB federal security service in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don, Russia, on Thursday
Video shows the building engulfed in flames, as a plume of thick black smoke billows into the air in a built-up area of the city
A series of explosions rocked the building, which belongs to the FSB’s border patrol section, before it burst into flames in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, which is located 75 miles from Ukraine
Russia fears that a spate of explosions and fires may be caused by sabotage by people opposed to Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine.
Putin is a former head of the FSB secret service which is Russia’s main counter-intelligence force, and includes border guards.
There have been several incidents of reported sabotage attributed to Ukrainian partisans within Russian territory since the Kremlin deployed troops to Ukraine in February last year.
There was no immediate official comment from Kyiv on the blaze in southern Russia.
A former spokeswoman for Ukraine leader Volodymyr Zelensky distributed images of the fire on social media but said Kyiv was not necessarily responsible.
‘Don’t rush to accuse Ukraine. It might be provocation or domestic political fight,’ Yulia Mendel said on Twitter.
There were no reports on incoming missiles or drone attacks.
FSB operatives today sought to stop filming of the site of the carnage in Rostov.
Ukrainian intelligence chief, Major-General Kyrylo Budanov told Forbes last month that Russia was seeing many usual explosions and fires.
‘Much of this is no accident,’ he said. ‘Something is constantly on fire [in Russia].
‘Signalling equipment on railways, it lights up several times a day, on various highways constantly for two to three hours, sometimes for five to six hours, traffic gets suspended.’
