A major attack ‘by Ukraine’ triggered huge 170ft flames at a factory used to build Putin’s bridge linking Russia to Crimea.
The blitz happened at a plant in the Belgorod region which borders Ukraine.
Video showed a spectacular blaze at a factory which makes parts for Vladimir Putin ’s bridge linking Russia to annexed Crimea.
Reports said flames rose 170ft into the night sky.
Russian accounts said there had been a shelling attack while witnesses also said they heard gunfire.
An oil depot at or near the plant evidently exploded with fire damage spreading to the Borisovsky Bridge Metal Structures Plant.
“At night, a civilian industrial facility in Borisovka was attacked by the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” said regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov.
He said “no one was injured, the company's employees were evacuated in time.
“Now everything is being done to ensure that the damage is minimal.”
A report from Telegram channel Horizontal Russia said: “A large fire started at the plant due to shelling in the Belgorod region.
“The shells hit the territory of an industrial plant in the Borisovsky district.”
Windows in the vicinity smashed by the force of the blast.
Belgorod has reported dozens of attacks from Ukraine after Putin launched his illegal invasion.
Other reports said there had been a shift at work in the plant when the attack came, adding there was no word about victims.
The same site had been attacked in May last year, according to accounts.
Ukraine last year attacked the Crimean Bridge, crossing the Kerch Strait, causing serious damage to the structure.
The Belgorod region plant supplies metal structures for this and other bridges.
The Mirror reported yesterday how Ukrainian forces have killed almost 130,000 Russian troops since Vladimir Putin invaded almost a year ago, Kyiv has claimed.
President Volodymyr Zelensky’s intelligence analysts believe Ukraine’s troops have destroyed 3,215 of Moscow’s tanks, 298 warplanes and 6,388 armoured personnel vehicles.
And air defences in Ukraine have blown as many as 796 cruise missiles out of the sky since the invasion on February 24 last year.
The latest figures were revealed in Ukraine’s daily intelligence bulletins, issued from Kyiv.
But it is feared Putin could be about to send 300,000 recently mobilised recruits to the Ukrainian frontline as cannon-fodder.
Another 500,000 are likely to be processed and ready to be sent to the front within a few months of the war entering its second year.
