As Explosions and Fires In Russia Increase, the Question Is Who Is Doing It?

The burning question (as it were) is how many of these are being caused by Ukrainian saboteurs, how many by disgruntled Russians (some of whom are soldiers trying to avoid being sent to Ukraine) and how many are just Russian incompetence or carelessness? JL 

Digital Forensic Labs reports:

Over the past several days, numerous strategic facilities on Russian territory have caught fire. The reason of the fires were not officially confirmed, though many are suspected to be sabotage operations. They include: a massive warehouse caught fire in Bogorodskoye, northeast of Moscow, a polyethylene waste storage area burning in Krasnoyarsk, a munitions factory facility in Perm, near the Ural Mountains, fuel-oil tanks burning in Mytishchi, 30 minutes from the Kremlin, a 120-megawatt coal-fired power plant sabotaged in the Sakhalin region of the Russian far east, and a railway bridge in Kursk.

New fires and alleged sabotage operations across Russian territory

Over the past several days, numerous strategic facilities on Russian territory have caught fire. The reason of the fires in most cases were not officially confirmed, though many of them are suspected to be sabotage operations. At the same time, Siberia is experiencing massive seasonal wildfires, which Russia has lacked enough manpower to keep under control.

On May 3, videos surfaced showing a massive warehouse caught fire in Bogorodskoye, northeast of Moscow. Russia’s Ministry of Emergency Situations also provided photos showing the scale of the fire, which reportedly spanned an area of more than three hectares. The warehouse was reportedly leased by the Prosveshchenie publishing house, which manufactures most of Russia’s school textbooks. That same day, another video showed a polyethylene waste storage area burning in the region of Krasnoyarsk. The fire, which reportedly spanned around 500 square meters, was also covered by Kremlin media.

On May 2, videos captured a fire at a munitions factory facility in Perm, near the Ural Mountains, roughly 1,500km east of Moscow. The factory reportedly manufactured Grad and Smerch rocket munitions, which have played a significant role in destroying cities in Ukraine. And on May 1, videos documented fuel-oil tanks burning in Mytishchi. The location of the fuel depot is reportedly only thirty minutes from the Kremlin.

Map showing the distance from the Bogorodskoye and Mytishchi fires to the Kremlin. Green shows the oil depot in Mytishchi, pink shows the warehouse in Bogorodskoye, blue marks the Kremlin. (Source: GoogleMaps, green; GoogleMaps, pink; GoogleMaps, blue)

On April 30, a GRES-2 120-megawatt coal-fired power plant was reportedly sabotaged and caught fire in the Sakhalin region of the Russian far east. A video captured the massive destruction at the plant.

Footage from the power plant fire. (Source: @igoresushko/archive)

A map showing the explosions and fires of various facilities on Russian territory since the beginning of Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Source: @BWhiteSwan/archive)

Meanwhile, photos surfaced on May 1 suggesting that a railway bridge in Russia’s Kursk region was destroyed due to sabotage. The bridge reportedly was used to transport Russian troops and military equipment to Ukraine. Kremlin media outlet RIA Novosti reported on the incident without providing the cause of the “partial collapse.” 

At the same time, Siberia is currently experiencing massive seasonal wildfires. Videos that surfaced on May 2 captured the enormous scale of the wildfires. Ukrainian journalist Denis Kazansky reported that the fires continue to burn as there is no one to put them out, because the military unit responsible for extinguishing fires in the region is currently fighting in Ukraine. But Russian officials insist they had extinguished more than six hundred fires encompassing 37,000 hectares nationwide as of last week.