A Ukrainian presidential aide has described explosions heard in three Russian provinces bordering Ukraine as “karma” and payback for Vladimir Putin’s war.
The blasts on Wednesday in southern Russia followed a major fire this week at a Russian oil storage facility in the Bryansk region near the border.
Without directly admitting that Ukraine was responsible, presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said it was natural that Russian regions where fuel and weapons are stored were learning about “demilitarisation”.
That appeared to be a pointed reference to Moscow’s stated objective for the two-month-old war in Ukraine, which the Kremlin calls a special military operation to disarm and “denazify” its neighbour.
“The reasons for the destruction of the military infrastructure in border areas can be quite varied,” Mr Podolyak wrote on Telegram, adding that “sooner or later the debts will have to be repaid” when one country decides to attack another country.
“Karma is a cruel thing,” he said, referring to the “disarmament” of warehouses in Belgorod and Voronezh.
In a separate development, Moldova's pro-Russian breakaway region of Transnistria said on Wednesday that shots were fired from the territory of Ukraine overnight towards a village that houses a large ammunition depot.
The region’s interior ministry also said that it had detected drones that it said were launched from Ukraine.
Moldova raised its terrorist threat level on Tuesday and the Kremlin voiced serious concerns as two blasts damaged Soviet-era radio masts in the breakaway region of Transnistria where authorities said a military unit was also targeted.
Modolovan authorities said shots were later fired on Wednesday morning towards the border village from Ukrainian territory. It gave no further details, but said nobody had been hurt.
Russia has a contingent of troops in Transnistria guarding many tonnes of ammunition stored in the region since before the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union. Moscow also has peacekeepers there after a conflict between separatist and Moldovan forces.
Transnistria’s interior ministry cited "experts" as saying that Cobasna holds the biggest ammunition depot in Europe.
Asked for a response, Ukraine's military said on Wednesday it had no comment and referred to a statement by Ukraine's foreign ministry on Tuesday in which Kyiv accused Moscow of trying to drag Transnistria into its war on Ukraine.
The Moscow-backed region said it had been targeted by a series of attacks and accused Ukraine of involvement. Kyiv blamed Moscow for masterminding the attacks that included explosions that damaged two radio masts.
The Kremlin said it was seriously concerned by the developments which will not help currently tense relations between Russia and the west.
In a recent blow to the relationship, Russia’s foreign ministry announced that has imposed sanctions on 287 members of the House of Commons in retaliation for UK measures over the Ukraine invasion.
“In response to the decision taken by the British government on March 11 to add 386 State Duma deputies to a sanctions list, in a reciprocal move, personal restrictions are being placed on 287 members of the House of Commons,” the ministry said in a statement.
