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According to Eastern European news outlet NEXTA, the fire broke out after missiles struck the facility. The oil depot is located near Russian-occupied Makiivka, in the eastern Donetsk region
of Ukraine. This comes as Russia has increasingly focused its military efforts on the east of the country. Twelve Russian attacks have been repelled by Ukrainian forces in the Donetsk and
Luhansk regions over the past 24 hours, according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In a statement posted to its Facebook page, the army said Moscow also carried out
assaults in the area of Popasna, where fighting continues. In the city of Mariupol, it said, Russian forces continue to launch air strikes and fire at its positions in the Azovstal
steelworks area. Russian forces have begun storming the steel mill, which contains the last pocket of the region's resistance. The assault began after some civilian survivors were
evacuated from the plant. However, it is believed that about 200 civilians are still inside the steelworks, Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boichenko said. He said that 100,000 remain in Mariupol as a
whole. This came after the Kremlin last month said it would scale back operations near Kyiv and Chernihiv. However, Russia has continued its heavy siege on many parts of Ukraine. Earlier
this week, analysis by the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE) revealed that Russia's invasion of Ukraine is inflicting $4.5bn (£3.6bn) worth of damage to Ukraine's infrastructure every
week. The total amount of direct infrastructure damage has reached $92bn (£73.7bn) since the invasion began on February 24 2022. More than 33,000 sq metres of residential buildings have
suffered damage during the war, estimated to be worth almost $30bn (£24bn) in total. Meanwhile, more than 23,0000km of road and 90,000 cars have been damaged or destroyed in the onslaught.
But last week, two fires broke out at oil depots in Russia in the city of Bryansk, which is less than 100 miles from the border with Ukraine. The fires were thought to be a potential act of
sabotage by Kyiv. Bryansk serves as a logistics base for Moscow’s military campaign in Ukraine. Russian state media claimed the first fire occurred at a civilian facility in Bryansk holding
10,000 tons of fuel. The second fire, it claimed, occurred at a military fuel depot holding 5,000 tons of fuel. Images posted to Russian social media showed smoke rising from the two
facilities on Monday morning.
