Moscow Fire Sends Huge Plumes of Smoke Over Downtown

A fire ripped through a building in the center of Moscow with images of the latest unexplained blaze to hit Russian territory being shared on social media.

The fire started on the second floor of a three-story administrative building at 20 Berezhkovskaya Embankment by the Moscow River, around three and a half miles from the Kremlin, state news outlet Tass reported.

Over a dozen organizations are reportedly based in the building, including car repair shops, wholesale companies and a sorting center for internet firm Yandex.

The news agency said that by Saturday morning the blaze had spread over 10,000 square feet and prompted a response by 130 firefighters, helicopters and a firefighting ship, the Colonel Chernyshev.

Citing Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry, which Newsweek has contacted for comment, Tass said there was no information as yet on casualties in the blaze, which diverted traffic in the Russian capital.

Pro-Ukrainian social media users posted video of the blazing building and smoke billowing into the sky.

"There is no quick way to put out fires in Russia, even in Moscow—all the money and equipment are being used to kill Ukrainians," posted Ukrainian internal affairs adviser Anton Gerashchenko on X, formerly Twitter.

The X account @V141NGs posted a clip of a helicopter dropping water over the site, adding: "We like this kind of weekend news. May it burn brightly and long!"

Since the start of Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine there have been numerous fires on Russian territory, some at sites which seem to be directly linked to Moscow's military effort. Kyiv does not comment on attacks on Russian territory and there is no suggestion so far that Saturday's fire is connected to the war.

The Atlas oil depot in the Rostov region was in the news after an apparent Ukrainian drone strike on Wednesday. Tanks at another oil depot in the region were hit in a drone strike on the Kavkaz oil and petroleum storage facility on August 18 which burnt for days.

Also this week, a fire broke out at Gazprom Neft's refinery, in the town of Ostrogozhsk in the Voronezh region south of Moscow, after a drone strike. Video showed flames and black smoke engulfing the structure.

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