A Russian tank academy building caught fire on Thursday, in the latest unexplained major blaze to strike the country since its 2022 invasion of neighboring Ukraine.
The defense ministry in Moscow confirmed the fire in a statement, as videos of the incident circulated on social media. One video posted by Astra, a Telegram news outlet, was captioned: "A tank academy barracks is on fire in Kazan."
Russian regions, including the Moscow oblast, have been hit by a spate of fires since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine just over two years ago. Some of them have been at key industrial facilities and military buildings, with officials often putting the blame on Ukraine drone strikes and sabotage.
The barracks of the Kazan Higher Tank Command School, located in Kazan, Central Russia, which trains soldiers deployed to tank units in Ukraine, was seen engulfed in smoke as fire raged on two of its storeys.
The fire spread from the second floor of the barracks to the roof, according to a report by local outlet Tatar-Inform. Another outlet, Shot, said that the fire brigade localized the fire to an area of 120 square meters (about 1,300 square feet), noting that people had been evacuated from the building and no casualties were reported.
In a statement on Thursday, the Russian defense ministry confirmed that an incident occurred at the Kazan academy, claiming that the fire started in a utility room.
It blamed the blaze on faulty wiring.
Russia has been hit with waves of drone strikes since launching its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, with some attacks reaching major cities including St. Petersburg and Moscow.
Many strikes have targeted ammunition depots and warehouses. The Kremlin has accused Kyiv of attempting to carry out terrorist attacks using drones.
Ukraine has ramped up attacks on Russian oil hubs and refineries in recent weeks, forcing Moscow to approve a temporary ban on the export of gasoline last month.
In January Newsweek reported, citing Molfar, that there were 939 fires in Russia in 2023, compared to 416 in 2022, meaning that the number of blazes in the country increased by 125.7 percent year on year.
Newsweek reached out to the Russian defense ministry for comment via email.
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About the writer
Yevgeny Kuklychev is Newsweek's London-based Senior Editor for Russia, Ukraine and Eastern Europe. He previously headed Newsweek's Misinformation Watch and ... Read more
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