Mysterious attacks continue against Russian military facilities close to front in Ukraine.

Russian ammunition depots caught fire in the occupied part of Ukraine’s Luhansk Oblast and near the Russian city of Belgorod within several hours on 26-27 April. Ukraine didn’t give official comments on both incidents. Meanwhile, those potentially can slow down the Russian offensive in the north of Ukraine’s Donbas region.

Irmino attack

On the evening 26 April, residents of Russian-occupied cities in the area of Popasna, Luhansk Oblast, reported that Ukrainian artillery hit a Russian military facility in occupied Irmino about 20 kilometers from the front line.

The locals shared on social media videos of a large fire in Irmino accompanied by explosions:

Local sources report a fire and explosions at Russian ammunition depots in occupied Irmino, Luhansk Oblast, about 20 km from the closest Ukrainian positions.

The facilities were allegedly hit by the Ukrainian artillery several hours ago.
📹via @PVB40pic.twitter.com/YUvXbN5amb

— Euromaidan Press (@EuromaidanPress) April 26, 2022

According to local reports on social media, two military facilities were hit in the town of Irmino, one being a storage of rockets for multiple rocket launchers and the other a base of self-propelled guns with an ammunition stockpile for them. Euromaidan Press couldn’t immediately confirm the role and the number of the facilities in question.

The fire and explosions in Irmino lasted for at least several hours:

Дискотека продолжается pic.twitter.com/9Q9gN3byxm

— ⚒️fivegolden⚒️ (@silentreader99) April 26, 2022

In its reports, the Ukrainian military usually mention its successful attacks on Russian facilities in the Ukrainian territory. However, at the time of writing this article, there was no official confirmation of the Ukrainian involvement in this attack, and the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces didn’t mention the fire in Irmino in the morning communique.

Belgorod fire

On the early morning of 27 April, Russia’s Belgorod Oblast governor Vyachrslav Gladkov wrote on Telegram that at about 03:35 EEST that a loud sound similar to an explosion woke him up, and while he was writing that message, he heard “three more explosions.” Local social media groups reported launches of air defense missiles.

Distant view of the fire at an ammunition depot near Belgorod on the morning of 27 April 2022. Source.

At 04:41, Gladkov wrote that according to preliminary information, an ammunition depot was on fire near the village of Staraya Nelidovka, adding that there were no damage to residential buildings and no one was injured. This village is located not far from Belgorod and lies 20 km from the Ukrainian border.

https://twitter.com/GirkinGirkin/status/1519146128465440769

A video showing the fire at the ammunition depot near Belgorod on 27 April 2022.

About 7 a.m. the Belgorod governor claimed that the “open conflagration has been liquidated.” However, Russian media reported at about 10:00 that fire and explosions continued at the Staraya Nelidovka ammunition depot.

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