The Kremlin blamed Ukraine on Monday for an incident that set fire to a gas terminal in the Baltic town of Ust-Luga over the weekend.
On Sunday, a gas facility belonging to Novatek, Russia’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG), was set on fire in the western port town on the Russian-Estonia border.
“The Kyiv regime continues to show its bestial face. They are striking civil infrastructure, people,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday when asked about the incident.
The gas terminal is more than 850 kilometres (530 miles) from Ukraine.
The fire was the latest in a string of alleged Ukrainian attacks on Russia’s energy infrastructure. Last week, Kyiv claimed responsibility for two other strikes, one of which occurred in the same Leningrad region as Ust-Luga.
Both Russia and Ukraine are utilizing explosive-laden drones to hit targets well beyond the frontlines, and their armed forces frequently claim to have shot down enemy drones over their territory.
“The defence ministry and air defence resources are taking all necessary measures to protect from such attacks,” Peskov told reporters in a briefing call on Monday.
Local authorities said there were no injuries as a result of the fire, which had raged Sunday morning, and that all personnel had been evacuated.
The Kremlin also called a strike on the city of Donetsk on Sunday that it said killed at least 27 people an act of “terrorism.”
Artillery fire struck a suburb of the city, which Russia controls and claims to have annexed, hitting a crowded market, local officials said.
“The special military operation will continue in order to protect our people from this danger,” Peskov said Monday, using Moscow’s preferred language to refer to its full-scale military offensive on Ukraine.