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Firefighters on duty in Ust-Luga

Photo: AFP

A terminal on the premises of the Russian natural gas producer Novatek in the Leningrad region caught fire on Sunday night.

There were no injuries caused by the fire in the Baltic Sea port of Ust-Luga, the staff was evacuated, said the region's governor, Alexander Drozdenko, according to the Tass news agency on Sunday.

High alert has been declared in the Kingisepp district.

A cause for the fire was initially not officially named.

The Ukrainian online medium “Ukrainska Pravda” published videos on the X platform (formerly Twitter) in which the gas plant that caught fire can be seen.

In the footage you can see flames shooting high into the night sky.

It was said that a fire broke out in one of the terminals of the Russian seaport on the night of January 21st.

Just last week, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense, a drone from Ukraine was intercepted in the Leningrad region (the name of the area surrounding the metropolis of Saint Petersburg).

She is said to have caused no damage.

According to a report by the local news portal Fontanka, the fire could have been caused by an attack by two drones (click here for the Russian report).

Many fire deaths in Russia

Drozdenko added that the Emergencies Ministry and local fire brigade units were involved in the extinguishing work at the gas plant.

According to the information, Novatek processes gas in Ust-Luga, among other things, into fuel.

From there the products are exported to international markets.

The complex was put into operation in 2013.

Russia has been waging a war of aggression against its neighboring country Ukraine for almost two years.

Since the beginning of the Russian attack, Ukraine has repeatedly succeeded in striking strategically important targets deep in the Russian hinterland.

On the other hand, the outbreak of serious fires in Russia is not uncommon, even without external influence.

In mid-January there was a devastating fire in a warehouse of a well-known Russian mail order company in Shushary near Saint Petersburg.

Warehouses measuring tens of thousands of square meters burned down.

The cause is believed to be problems with power lines.

While in Germany there were an average of 0.43 fire-related deaths per 100,000 inhabitants in 2019, this indicator was 3.42 in Russia, according to an analysis by the “Our World in Data” portal. 

beb/dpa