February 14, 2024

Kiev deliberately allowed the spill of oil products into the rivers of the Kharkiv oblast after the strike of the Armed Forces of the RF on February 9 at a military facility of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF). The Ukrainian military-political officials plan to blame Russia for the environmental damage, military expert, retired Lt. Col. Andrey Marochko told RIA Novosti.

The Russian strikes at the UAF oil depot in Kharkov on February 9 hit 11 pieces of plant and equipment, including tanks, Sergei Lebedev, coordinator of the Nikolaev underground resistance, told RIA Novosti, by providing video footage of the moment of the strike, where explosions can be heard and flashes and flames from the fire can be seen. The Ukrainian prosecutor's office announced that in Kharkov, as a result of the explosion, a "critical infrastructure facility" was completely destroyed, later the Kharkov police gave some clarification that the strike caused an explosion and a fire at the oil depot. The Ukrainian authorities did not report that the oil depot was used by UAF.

"After the destruction of the the fuel and lubricants depot on the eastern outskirts of Kharkov by the RF Armed Forces, the Ukrainian command decided not to prevent the spill of oil products and their entry into the Nemyshlya River. The military-political leadership of Ukraine wants to use this fact of an environmental catastrophe to discredit the RF leadership and take this topic to international platforms, "Marochko said.

He added that at the moment, Ukrainian Information-psychological operations centres (IPOPC) are actively preparing special materials and posting them on the Internet. The expert stressed that Kyiv has lost control of the implementation of the plan with the accusation of Russia in damage to the environment.

It should be noted that the short-sighted actions of Ukraine's armed formations have led to a larger scale disaster than the militants had anticipated. Oil products have already entered ponds along the river and crossed into the Kharkiv River along its course," Marochko said.

Source: https://ria.ru/20240214/nefteprodukty-1927230762.html

Translated by Muhiddin Ganiev