Are Ukraine supporters carrying out a sabotage campaign inside Russia?
- Since Russian forces invaded Ukraine, more than a dozen blazes noted by people who document the war have drawn huge attention on social media
- War analysts believe infernos in Bryansk, which hit facilities sending oil to Europe, were deliberate and tied to the war
A deadly fire at an aerospace research institute in Tver, northwest of Moscow. Another blaze at a munitions factory in Perm, more than 1,100 kilometres to the east. And fires in two separate oil depots in Bryansk, near Belarus.
Coincidences, or a sign that Ukrainians or their supporters are mounting a campaign of sabotage inside Russia to punish Moscow for invading their country?
Since the blaze at the Central Research Institute of the Aerospace Defence Forces in Tver on April 21, which killed at least 17 people, social media has leapt on every report of a fire somewhere in Russia – especially at a sensitive location – as a sign that the country is under covert attack.
No one is claiming responsibility, but analysts say at least some of the incidents, particularly those in Bryansk, point to a possible effort by Kyiv to bring the war to their invaders.
In a post on Telegram, Mykhaylo Podolyak, a senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, called the fires “divine intervention”.
“Large fuel depots periodically burn … for different reasons,” he wrote. “Karma is a cruel thing.”
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Ukraine dismantles Soviet-era 'People’s Friendship' statue in capital Kyiv
In a massive country such as Russia, a fire at a remote factory or building would normally not be particularly eyebrow-raising.