Why neither Russia nor Ukraine wants to discuss the mystery explosions at strategic Russian facilities


Russian media reported explosions Wednesday at an ammunition depot near Belgorod and two other storage facilities near Ukraine's eastern border, in the latest instances of "unexplained fires and explosions at strategic locations in Russia, including storage depots, a sensitive defense research site, and the country's largest chemical plant," The Washington Post reports.
"All of the sites hit are likely involved in supplying fuel and ammunition to the troops engaged in Donbas and the damage may hinder Russia's efforts to sustain its offensive there," the Post reports, raising "suspicions that at least some may have been caused by sabotage or Ukrainian attacks."
Local Russian officials blamed an April 1 explosion at fuel depots in Belgorod on Ukrainian attack helicopters, but as the incidents multiplied, it became "a subject which officials in Moscow prefer to avoid," BBC Monitoring's Vitaliy Shevchenko writes. "Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory would be an embarrassment to the Kremlin, which had been hoping to have control of Ukraine within days of invading it in February."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
For their part, "Ukrainian officials have hinted at some involvement in the incidents without expressly acknowledging them," The Wall Street Journal reports.
"Karma is a cruel thing," Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, wrote in Russian on Wednesday. Oleksiy Arestovych, a military adviser to Zelensky, suggested "you need to look for reasons inside Russia — for example, hiding the means by which money has been stolen from the Russian defense ministry."
"It is clear why Ukraine would be reluctant to admit any cross-border attacks," writes the BBC's Shevchenko: "They would amount to a major escalation in an already bitter conflict."
And there are plausible explanations other than sabotage or airstrikes. Thanks largely to negligence, Russia already "suffers from self-inflicted injuries in peacetime," Russian security expert Keir Giles at London's Chatham House tells the Journal. "When put under additional strain of an offensive war, it is no surprise that the rate of natural accidents should increase."
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
5 heavy-handed cartoons about ICE and deportation
Cartoons Artists take on international students, the Supreme Court, and more
By The Week US
-
Exploring the three great gardens of Japan
The Week Recommends Beautiful gardens are 'the stuff of Japanese landscape legends'
By The Week UK
-
Is Prince Harry owed protection?
Talking Point The Duke of Sussex claims he has been singled out for 'unjustified and inferior treatment' over decision to withdraw round-the-clock security
By The Week UK
-
Is the 'coalition of the willing' going to work?
Today's Big Question PM's proposal for UK/French-led peacekeeping force in Ukraine provokes 'hostility' in Moscow and 'derision' in Washington
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK
-
Ukraine: where do Trump's loyalties really lie?
Today's Big Question 'Extraordinary pivot' by US president – driven by personal, ideological and strategic factors – has 'upended decades of hawkish foreign policy toward Russia'
By Elliott Goat, The Week UK
-
What will Trump-Putin Ukraine peace deal look like?
Today's Big Question US president 'blindsides' European and UK leaders, indicating Ukraine must concede seized territory and forget about Nato membership
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK
-
Ukraine's disappearing army
Under the Radar Every day unwilling conscripts and disillusioned veterans are fleeing the front
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK
-
Cuba's mercenaries fighting against Ukraine
The Explainer Young men lured by high salaries and Russian citizenship to enlist for a year are now trapped on front lines of war indefinitely
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK
-
Ukraine-Russia: are both sides readying for nuclear war?
Today's Big Question Putin changes doctrine to lower threshold for atomic weapons after Ukraine strikes with Western missiles
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK
-
What would happen if Russia declared war on Nato?
In depth Response to an attack on UK or other Western allies would be 'overwhelming'
By Richard Windsor, The Week UK
-
Are Ukraine's F-16 fighter jets too little too late?
Today's Big Question US-made aircraft are 'significant improvement' on Soviet-era weaponry but long delay and lack of trained pilots could undo advantage against Russia
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK