The Russian mystery fires are a series of unusual fires and explosions that have occurred since the invasion of Ukraine, [1] [2] which have not been formally explained. [3] There have been many notable arson attacks on military recruitment offices in Russia since the beginning of the war, [4] and there has been speculation that some of the fires or explosions have been the result of sabotage efforts by Russian partisans [5] (such as Svoboda Rossii or Atesh partisan legion [6] ) or Ukrainian saboteurs. [7]
A "yellow" (medium) terrorist threat level was introduced [8] in Bryansk, Kursk, and Belgorod oblasts, as well as some districts of Voronezh Oblast, Krasnodar Krai, and northern Crimea. Starting from the end of March, a series of incidents and explosions were reported in border regions of Bryansk, Kursk, Belgorod, and Voronezh Oblasts. Russian officials reported mortar shelling, drone attacks, and helicopter gunship attacks allegedly coming "from the Ukrainian side". [ru 1] [9] [10]
The Ukrainian side refused to confirm or deny involvement in incidents at strategic locations. [11] There were allegations that some of the fires or explosions were the result of Ukrainian sabotage. [12] [13]
In May, a series of incidents on railway lines in Russia impeded the deployment of troops and military equipment to Ukraine; responsibility for these incidents was claimed by the Internet movement "Stop the Wagons" [ru 2] (a reference to the Russian anti-war slogan "Stop the War"). [ru 3] [14]
Location | Date | Facility | Deaths | Coordinates |
---|---|---|---|---|
Kstovo | 22 March 2022 | Oil depot [15] | ||
Belgorod | 1 April 2022 | Oil depot [11] | 1 | 50°35′29.8″N36°40′13.1″E / 50.591611°N 36.670306°E |
Belgorod region | 12 April 2022 | Railway bridge [16] | ||
Tver | 21 April 2022 | Central Research Institute of the Aerospace Defense Forces [17] | 7 | |
Kineshma | 21 April 2022 | Chemical plant [18] | ||
Korolyov, Moscow Oblast | 22 April 2022 | Industrial zone where many enterprises of the space and rocket industry are located [19] | ||
Barvikha | 23 April 2022 | Governor's residence in Moscow Region [20] | ||
Bryansk | 25 April 2022 | Fuel depot holding 5,000 tonnes of fuel. [21] 2nd Branch of Military Unit 55443–90. [22] | ||
Ussuriysk | 25 April 2022 | Military air base [23] | ||
Belgorod | 27 April 2022 | Ammunition depot [24] | ||
Moscow | 28 April 2022 | Fires and explosions on Moscow's Kustanayskaya street [25] | ||
Ilyinskoye | 30 April 2022 | GRES-2 power plant [26] | 52°1′26.3″N75°28′34.5″E / 52.023972°N 75.476250°E | |
Perm | 1 May 2022 | FKP gunpowder plant [27] | ||
Moscow | 3 May 2022 | "Warehouse of a pro-Kremlin publishing house". [28] | ||
Nizhny Novgorod | 4 May 2022 | Industrial zone [29] | ||
Nizhnevartovsk | 4 May 2022 | Military enlistment office [30] | ||
Kursk | 5 May 2022 | Unknown [31] | ||
Perm | 8 May 2022 | Aviation college [27] | ||
Dubovoye, Belgorod Oblast | 11 May 2022 | Unknown [32] | ||
Teysin, Amursky district | 12 May 2022 | Military installation [33] | ||
Berdsk | 17 May 2022 | Chemical plant [34] | ||
Zhukovsky | 21 May 2022 | Fire at the substation in TsAGI (aviation institute) [35] | ||
Moscow | 24 May 2022 | Saint Peter and Paul Church [36] [37] | ||
Moscow | 3 June 2022 | Grand Setun Plaza Building, business center with Pension Fund of Russia offices [38] | ||
Komsomolsk-on-Amur | 4 June 2022 | Rosgvardia (National Guard of the Russian Federation) building [39] | ||
Sarov, Nizhny Novgorod | 8 June 2022 | Rosatom (Nuclear) Institute of Digital Technologies [40] | ||
Sergiyev Posad | 8 June 2022 | Zagorsk Optical-Mechanical Plant warehouse (optical, thermal & night-vision sighting systems) [41] | ||
Vladivostok | 8 June 2022 | Military enlistment office [42] | ||
Ust-Luga | 10 June 2022 | "Factor" timber terminal [43] owned by oligarch Ramis Deberdeyev | ||
near Gulevka | 11 June 2022 | Druzhba pipeline [44] | ||
Angarsk | 23 June 2022 | LPG station (liquefied petroleum gas station) [45] | 0 | |
Moscow | 3 July 2022 | Residential skyscraper [46] | ||
near Moscow | 3 August 2022 | e-commerce warehouse [47] | 1 | |
Volokolamsk | 12 September 2022 | Plastic chip depot warehouse [48] | ||
Novokuznetsk | 26 September 2022 | Steel plant owned by Putin ally Roman Abramovich [49] | 0 | |
Moscow | 9 October 2022 | Television and radio tower [50] | ||
Belgorod | 11 October 2022 | Electricity substation [51] | ||
Ryazan | 21 October 2022 | Gunpowder factory [52] | 16 | |
Saint Petersburg | 26 October 2022 | Warehouse [53] | 0 | |
Stalnoi Kon | 16 November 2022 | Oil depot [54] | 0 | |
near Saint Petersburg | 19 November 2022 | Gas pipeline [55] | 0 | |
Moscow | 21 November 2022 | Warehouse near three railway stations [56] | 5 | |
Angarsk | 27 November 2022 | Angarsk Petrochemical Plant (largest oil refinery in Russia) [57] | 0 | |
Surazh | 29 November 2022 | Oil storage tank [58] | 0 | |
Perm | 30 November 2022 | Thermal Power Plant #9 (roof of the turbine room) [59] | 0 | |
Khimki | 9 December 2022 | MEGA Khimki Shopping Centre, explosion and fire covering 18,000 square metres (190,000 sq ft) [60] [61] | 1 [60] | 55°54′40.1″N37°23′47.1″E / 55.911139°N 37.396417°E |
Barnaul | 9 December 2022 | Tyre manufacturing plant [62] | 0 | |
Moscow | 10 December 2022 | Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts [63] | 0 | 55°44′48.4″N37°36′11.5″E / 55.746778°N 37.603194°E |
Balashikha | 12 December 2022 | Shopping center [64] | 0 | 55°43′31″N37°59′14″E / 55.72528°N 37.98722°E |
Nizhnekamsk | 12 December 2022 | Synthetic rubber factory [65] | 0 | |
Saint Petersburg | 13 December 2022 | Machine-building plant [66] | 0 | |
Angarsk | 15 December 2022 | Angarsk Petrochemical Plant [67] | 2 | |
Vladivostok | 17 December 2022 | Confectionery factory warehouse [68] | 0 | |
Snezhinsk | 18 December 2022 | Shopping center [69] | 0 | |
Verkhnemarkovo, Irkutsk Oblast | 18 December 2022 | Oil and gas condensate field [70] | 0 | 57°20′14″N107°03′09″E / 57.33722°N 107.05250°E |
Kalinino, Chuvashia | 20 December 2022 | Gas pipeline [71] | 3 | |
Kurgan | 20 December 2022 | Kamaz auto service center [72] | 0 | |
Murmansk | 22 December 2022 | Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier [73] | 0 | |
Moscow | 23 December 2022 | Military base [74] | 0 | |
Murmansk | 24 December 2022 | Supply base [75] | 0 | |
Novosibirsk | 26 December 2022 | Warehouse [76] | ||
Saint Petersburg | 29 December 2022 | Warehouse [77] [78] | 0 | |
Kronstadt | 30 December 2022 | Oil tanker [79] | 0 | |
Rostov Nuclear Power Plant | 31 December 2022 | Transformer substation[ citation needed ] | 1 | |
Location | Date | Facility | Deaths | Coordinates |
---|---|---|---|---|
Novy Oskol | 3 January 2023 | Military facility [80] | ||
Saint Petersburg | 5 January 2023 | Agricultural machinery plant [81] | 2 | |
Moscow | 6 January 2023 | Foreign Ministry [82] | 0 | |
Barnaul | 8 January 2023 | Shopping center [83] | 0 | |
Bratsk | 9 January 2023 | Military enlistment office [84] [85] | 0 | |
Moscow | 10 January 2023 | Auto service [86] | 0 | |
Ust-Ilimsk, Irkutsk Oblast | 10 January 2023 | Sosnovaya Liniya timber mill [87] | 0 | |
Moscow | 11 January 2023 | Construction site [88] | 0 | |
Saint Petersburg | 12 January 2023 | Warehouse [89] | 0 | |
Manzherok, Altai Republic | 17 January 2023 | Hotel [90] | 0 | |
Angarsk | 21 January 2023 | Oil depot [91] | ||
Kirov | 25 January 2023 | Church [92] | 0 | |
Moscow | 28 January 2023 | Warehouse [93] | ||
Kstovo | 7 February 2023 | Oil refinery [94] | 0 | |
Novoshakhtinsk | 8 February 2023 | Oil refinery [95] | 0 | |
Yeremeytsevo, Yaroslavl Oblast | 13 February 2023 | Pipeline [96] | 0 | |
Krasnoyarsk | 13 February 2023 | Warehouse [97] | 0 | |
Yangiskain, Bashkortostan | 13 February 2023 | Livestock complex [98] | 0 | |
Moscow | 14 February 2023 | Car service station [99] | 0 | |
Kazan | 14 February 2023 | Rubber warehouse [100] | ||
Kolomna | 14 February 2023 | Warehouse [101] | ||
Magadan | 17 February 2023 | Truck warehouse [102] | ||
Ufa | 17 February 2023 | Chemical plant [103] | 0 | |
Krasnoyarsk | 22 February 2023 | Warehouse [104] | 0 | |
Moscow | 26 February 2023 | Textile plant [105] | 0 | |
Tuapse | 28 February 2023 | Oil terminal [106] | 0 | |
Saint Petersburg | 1 March 2023 | Warehouse [107] | 0 | |
Saint Petersburg | 2 March 2023 | Textile warehouse and office complex [108] | 1 | |
Vidnoye, Moscow Oblast | 5 March 2023 | Coke and gas works [109] | ||
Moscow | 7 March 2023 | Interior Ministry building [110] | ||
Kolyubakino, Moscow Oblast | 11 March 2023 | Plastic production facility [111] | 0 | |
Moscow | 11 March 2023 | Spas TV office building [112] | 0 | |
Odintsovo | 13 March 2023 | Warehouse[ citation needed ] | 0 | |
Rostov-on-Don | 16 March 2023 | FSB building [113] | 1 | |
Dolgoprudny | 18 March 2023 | Chemical plant [114] | 0 | |
Yaroslavl | 23 March 2023 | Yaroslavl Motor Plant [115] | 0 | |
Aramil, Sverdlovsk Oblast | 24 March 2023 | Research-and-production enterprise [116] | 0 | |
Aksay, Rostov Oblast | 25 March 2023 | Warehouse [117] | 0 | |
Pelym, Sverdlovsk Oblast | 30 March 2023 | Gas pipeline [118] | 0 | |
Moscow | 5 April 2023 | Defense ministry [119] | 0 | |
Voronezh | 7 April 2023 | Aircraft plant [120] | 0 | |
Nakhabino, Moscow Oblast | 10 April 2023 | Auto parts warehouse [121] [122] | 0 | |
Kazan | 16 April 2023 | Tank training ground [123] | 0 | |
Stavropol | 4 May 2023 | Concrete production plant [124] | 0 | |
Moscow | 4 May 2023 | Administrative building [125] | 0 | |
Odintsovo | 30 May 2023 | Paper warehouse [126] | 3 | |
Novocherkasskaya, Rostov Oblast | 14 June 2023 | Power station [127] | 0 | |
Voronezh | 24 June 2023 | Fuel depot [128] | 0 | |
Sergiyev Posad | 9 August 2023 | Optics plant [note 1] [129] | 2 | |
Makhachkala, Dagestan | 14 August 2023 | Fuel station [131] [132] | 35 |
Original Russian terms
The Black Sea Fleet is the fleet of the Russian Navy in the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov and the Mediterranean Sea. The Black Sea Fleet, along with other Russian ground and air forces on the Crimean Peninsula, are subordinate to the Southern Military District of the Russian Armed Forces. The fleet traces its history to its founding by Prince Potemkin on 13 May 1783 as part of the Imperial Russian Navy. The Russian SFSR inherited the fleet in 1918; with the founding of the Soviet Union in 1922, it became part of the Soviet Navy. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Black Sea Fleet was partitioned between the Russian Federation and Ukraine in 1997, with Russia receiving title to 82% of the vessels.
Avdiivka is a city in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. The city is located in the centre of the oblast, just north of the regional centre, Donetsk. The large Avdiivka Coke Plant is located in Avdiivka. The city had a population of 31,392 before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but it was reported as 1,600 in October 2023, and then "just over 1,000", mostly living below ground level.
The Crimean Bridge, also called Kerch Strait Bridge or Kerch Bridge, is a pair of parallel bridges, one for a four-lane road and one for a double-track railway, spanning the Kerch Strait between the Taman Peninsula of Krasnodar Krai in Russia and the Kerch Peninsula of Crimea. Built by the Russian Federation after its annexation of Crimea at the start of 2014, the bridge cost ₽227.92 billion (US$3.7 billion) and has a length of 19 km (12 mi), making it the longest bridge in Europe and the longest bridge ever constructed by Russia.
The annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation took place in the aftermath of the 2014 Ukrainian revolution. On 22–23 February, Russian President Vladimir Putin convened an all-night meeting with security services chiefs to discuss pullout of deposed President, Viktor Yanukovych, and at the end of that meeting Putin remarked that "we must start working on returning Crimea to Russia.". Russia sent in soldiers on February 27, 2014. Crimea held a referendum. According to official Russian and Crimean sources 95% voted to reunite with Russia. The legitimacy of the referendum has been questioned by the international community on both legal and procedural grounds.
The T-14Armata is a Russian main battle tank (MBT) based on the Armata Universal Combat Platform.
Sergey Vladimirovich Surovikin is a Russian army general who serves as head of the Coordinating Committee for Air Defence under the Council of Defence Ministers of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) since September 2023.
Zagorsk Optical-Mechanical Plant is a company based in Sergiyev Posad, Moscow Oblast, Russia. It is part of Shvabe Holding of Rostec, a Russian state-owned defense conglomerate.
The Kh-47M2 Kinzhal is a Russian hypersonic air-launched ballistic missile. It has an estimated range of 460–480 km (290–300 mi) and a reported top speed of Mach 10. It can carry either conventional or nuclear warheads and can be launched by Tu-22M3 bombers, MiG-31K interceptors, or modified Su-34 fighter-bombers. It is the first hypersonic weapon used.
Casualties in the Russo-Ukrainian War included six deaths during the 2014 annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, 14,200–14,400 military and civilian deaths during the War in Donbas, and up to 500,000 estimated casualties during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
There have been attacks in mainland Russia as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which began on 24 February 2022. The main targets have been the military, the arms industry and the oil industry. Many of the attacks have been drone strikes, firebombing, and rail sabotage. The Ukrainian intelligence services have acknowledged carrying out some of these attacks. Others have been carried out by anti-war activists in Russia. There has also been cross-border shelling, missile strikes and ground raids from Ukraine, mainly in the Belgorod, Kursk and Bryansk oblasts. Several times, Russian anti-Kremlin paramilitaries have launched incursions from Ukraine into Russia, captured border villages and battled the Russian military. While Ukraine has supported these ground incursions, it has denied direct involvement.
During the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russia occupied vast portions of the territory of Ukraine, having already occupied parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts as well as the entire Autonomous Republic of Crimea since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine war in 2014. Partisan groups began to be organized in mid-2022. These groups have been involved in intelligence-gathering, sabotage, and assassinations. Much of their activity has taken place in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.
Since the beginning of 2022, multiple unusual deaths of Russian businesspeople or high officials, sometimes including their family members, have occurred under what some sources suggest were suspicious circumstances.
During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Russian Armed Forces have launched several missile attacks over the city of Dnipro in Ukraine. These have led to dozens of fatalities and over a hundred injuries among the civilian population.
Pro-democratic and pro-Ukrainian partisan movements have emerged in Belarus and Russia following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War. These resistance movements act against the authoritarian governments of Alexander Lukashenko in Belarus and Vladimir Putin in Russia, as well as against civilian supporters of these authorities and the armed forces of both countries, with the aim of stopping the war.
The rail war began in different regions of Russia in the spring of 2022 after a similar rail war in Belarus.
On 8 October 2022, at 6:07 a.m., a fire broke out on the Crimean Bridge as a result of an explosion of a bomb loaded onto a truck, which occurred on the road bridge, on the westbound vehicle lanes running from Russia to Kerch in Russian-occupied Crimea. Two two-lane vehicular spans of the bridge collapsed into the water. Two adjacent eastbound lanes on a separate structure survived. The railway bridge was also damaged by a railway tanker car that caught fire. Five people were killed. Following the incident, the Investigative Committee of Russia launched an investigation.
Beginning in July 2022, a series of explosions and fires occurred on the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula from where the Russian Army had launched its offensive on Southern Ukraine during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Occupied since 2014, Crimea was a base for the subsequent Russian occupation of Kherson Oblast and Russian occupation of Zaporizhzhia Oblast. The Ukrainian government has not accepted responsibility for all of the attacks.
During the autumn and winter of 2022–2023, Russia launched waves of missile and drone strikes against energy in Ukraine as part of its invasion. The strikes targeted civilian areas beyond the battlefield, particularly critical power infrastructure, which is considered a war crime. By the end of 2023, Russian forces launched about 7,400 missiles and 3,900 Shahed drone strikes against Ukraine according to Ukrainian military officials.
On 14 January 2023 at about 3:30 p.m., a Russian Kh-22 missile struck a nine-story residential building in Dnipro, Ukraine, on Naberezhna Peremohy St, 118, Sobornyi District in the right-bank part of the city, destroying one entrance and 236 apartments. On 19 January the official casualty rate was stated as 46 people killed and 80 injured and 11 people reported missing. 14 children were reported injured, and 39 inhabitants were rescued. The destruction left about 400 people homeless. The strike was part of months-long campaign of Russian strikes on Ukrainian civilians and civilian infrastructure that also had hit Dnipro.
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