2 Russian villages evacuated after fire at munitions depot

By PAUL BYRNE
Associated Press

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region says a fire at a munitions depot near the Russian village of Timonovo has led to the evacuation of two villages in Russia’s Belgorod region on Ukraine’s northeastern border. The governor said Friday there were no casualties in the late Thursday blaze. The fire came days after another ammunition depot exploded on Ukraine’s Black Sea peninsula of Crimea. The Russian-occupied territory was seized by Moscow in 2014. Nine Russian warplanes were reported destroyed last week at an airbase on Crimea. It demonstrated both the Russians’ vulnerability and the Ukrainians’ capacity to strike deep behind enemy lines.