Fire rips through security building in south Russia

A fire tore through offices of the security services in a southern region of Russia bordering Ukraine, the emergency services said Thursday, according to Russian news agencies.

Images circulating on social media showed a massive blaze tearing through a building in a built-up urban area with a huge plume of black smoke billowing over the fire.

“Emergency services were dispatched… details are being clarified,” the press office of the emergency services in Rostov-on-Don said in comments carried by the state-run TASS news agency.

There was no immediate comment from authorities about the fire and emergency services were yet to give any explanation how the blaze could have broken out.

There have been several incidents of reported sabotage attributed to Ukrainian partisans within Russian territory since the Kremlin deployed troops to Ukraine in February last year.

There was no immediate official comment from Kyiv on the blaze in southern Russia.

A former spokeswoman for Ukraine leader Volodymyr Zelensky distributed images of the fire on social media but said Kyiv was not necessarily responsible.

“Don’t rush to accuse Ukraine. It might be provocation or domestic political fight,” Yulia Mendel said on Twitter.