DRAMATIC footage shows the moment a gas pipeline blast in the Russian-occupied region of Luhansk sparked a blaze at an oil base after a series of mysterious fires.
The blast on the Ukrainian pipeline, currently being operated by Russians, on January 7 resulted in gas being cut off to more than 13,000 homes.
Footage showed the inferno ripping through the facility sending black smoke billowing into the sky.
A total of 25 workers were evacuated as the emergency services attended and “extinguished the fire”.
There were no reports of casualties but a number of ambulances were called to the scene.
Although, the Kremlin is known to withhold information on attacks carried out on its own territories.
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The annexed region’s Ministry of Emergency Situations said an explosion had caused the incident.
It's not clear who was behind the blast but the Russian Ministry of State Security has opened a criminal case into “sabotage due to the explosion of a gas pipeline”.
There has been a spate of unexplained fires – sometimes triggered by explosions – in Russian territory and invaded areas.
Some of the incidents are seen as being caused by sabotage attacks by anti-war individuals or groups – or squads sent from Ukraine inside Russian-controlled territory.
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Recent infernos have hit strategic oil and gas facilities including storage depots, military facilities and shopping malls, sometimes following explosions in many Russian regions, including Moscow.
A blaze broke out on Vladimir Putin’s only aircraft carrier, Admiral Kuznetsov, on 22 December in Arctic port Murmansk while the vessel was under repairs from an earlier major fire.
On Friday, a fire with dense smoke broke out in Russia's foreign ministry in Moscow.
The blaze led to the evacuation of 25 people in a section of the building complex housing veteran foreign minister Sergei Lavrov’s press service.
Reports said this fire started in a “technical room” two floors underground.
There were early claims of a short circuit, routine speculation before investigations have been conducted.
In December, a Siberian oil pipeline exploded in an apocalyptic fireball amid suspicions key Russian facilities are being targeted in sabotage attacks.
The huge blast hit the major Russian pipeline some 560 miles from the Ukrainian border in Chuvashia killing three gas workers.
The cause of the inferno was unclear, but shocking footage showed flames shooting into the sky from the giant blaze.
Eyewitnesses said workers were at the site when it went up in flames before the remains of the three workers were discovered.
According to local residents, the blast was on a major pipeline operated by Russian gas giant Gazprom between the villages of Kalinino and Yambakhtino.
The Urengoy-Pomary-Uzhgorod pipeline was built in the early 1980s and transports gas from Russia via Ukraine to Europe.
It crosses the Russian-Ukrainian border near the Sudzha gas pipeline in the Kursk region.
Local regional chief Oleg Nikolaev said the heat was so intense from the blast that it was “impossible to approach the scene immediately”.
In October Putin was blamed for an explosion that damaged the Nord Stream pipeline, cuttinggas supplies in retaliation over sanctions imposed over his invasion of Ukraine.
Footage taken by Swedish investigator showed twisted metal on the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, 262ft down in the Baltic Sea.
The video shows around 165ft of pipeline has been destroyed or buried under the seafloor, while long tears can be seen on the seabed leading up to the burst pipe.
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The attacks on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines sent millions of cubic metres of methane boiling to the sea’s surface and pushed sky-high gas prices even higher.
Security experts claimed a crack force of divers from a shadowy Russian special ops unit were behind the attack on the Nord Stream gas pipeline.
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