A border patrol building of the Russian Federal Security Service, or FSB, burst into flames in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don on Thursday, killing at least one person and injuring at least two, according to Russian media and local officials.
Videos posted on social media sites showed a large fire and plumes of thick, gray smoke emanating from the building. on Siverska Avenue, which runs along the Temernik River. Rostov-on-Don is located approximately 75 miles from the Ukrainian border.
Rostov Region Governor Vassily Golubev, writing on Telegram, said the fire spread over 800 square meters – about 9,000 square feet – causing two walls to collapse. Residents of surrounding buildings were evacuated and at least one person was hospitalized with serious injuries, Golubev said.
The FSB is Russia’s main internal security service, responsible for border security, surveillance and the fight against terrorism.
In recent weeks, amid a growing number of cross-border attacks from Ukraine, including drone strikes, President Vladimir Putin has ordered officials to step up security in Russia’s border regions, including Kursk. , Bryansk, Belgorod and Rostov.
Local residents told Russian media they heard loud explosions before the fire broke out.
Golubev and local emergency service officials said a short circuit started the fire by igniting fuel tanks. The Washington Post could not independently verify this information.
Citing local emergency officials, Tass, the state-controlled news service, reported that as a result of the fire, one person died and at least two others were injured.
In regions bordering Russia, there are growing concerns about sabotage by groups opposed to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and growing anxiety after a wave of drone sightings in the west of Russia and an attack in Bryansk claimed by a rogue Russian nationalist group.
“It is necessary to keep the Russian-Ukrainian border under special control, to put a barrier there for sabotage groups,” Putin told a meeting of the FSB board in late February. “The FSB must respond to the intensification of Western intelligence activities against Russia.”
A year of Russian war in Ukraine
Portraits from Ukraine: Every Ukrainian’s life has changed since Russia launched its full-scale invasion a year ago – in ways both big and small. They learned to survive and help each other in dire circumstances, in bomb shelters and hospitals, destroyed apartment complexes and crumbling markets. Scroll through portraits of Ukrainians reflecting on a year of loss, resilience and fear.
Battle of Attrition: Over the past year, the war has evolved from a multi-pronged invasion that included kyiv in the north to a conflict of attrition largely focused on a swath of territory to the east and south. Follow the 600 mile front line between Ukrainian and Russian forces and see where the fighting has been concentrated.
One year of separated life: The invasion of Russia, coupled with Ukrainian martial law preventing men of military age from leaving the country, has forced millions of Ukrainian families to make agonizing decisions about how to balance safety, duty and love, once intertwined lives have become unrecognizable. This is what a train station full of farewells looked like last year.
Deepening global divides: President Biden has trumpeted the reinvigorated Western alliance forged during the war as a “global coalition,” but closer examination suggests the world is far from united on the issues raised by the war in Ukraine. Evidence abounds that the effort to isolate Putin has failed and that sanctions have not stopped Russia, thanks to its oil and gas exports.
