**Fire Erupts at Russian Military Engine Plant**
A major fire broke out on June 4 at the Avtodizel motor plant in Yaroslavl, Russia. The facility is one of the country’s largest producers of diesel engines and a supplier to the Russian military. According to reports from regional emergency officials, cited by the Moscow Times, the fire started at around 10 am local time.
**Sanctioned Facility**
The Avtodizel motor plant has been under U.S. sanctions since May 2024. The U.S. Treasury Department had cited the facility’s role in supplying engines for military equipment used in Russia’s war against Ukraine. This means that any assistance from the West to put out the fire or provide aid may be restricted.
**Impact on Russian Military**
The fire engulfed a 400-square-meter workshop where 12-cylinder engines are manufactured. Firefighters took more than 90 minutes to extinguish the open flames, according to Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry. Fortunately, no casualties were reported. However, the cause of the fire has not been disclosed.
**Second Major Fire in Two Days**
This is the second major fire at a Russian engine plant in two days. On June 2, a blast and fire tore through a workshop at the Zavolzhsky Motor Plant in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast. Local authorities said the cause was a tanker truck fire in a facility storing chemicals.
**Ukrainian Campaign**
The Yaroslavl fire is not directly linked to Ukraine’s military campaign, which has escalated its strikes on Russian military-industrial targets inside Russia. Ukrainian drone attacks have forced repeated shutdowns of Russian airports and struck military airfields and logistics hubs across Russia and occupied parts of Ukraine.
**Russian Authorities Silent**
Russian authorities have not accused Ukraine of involvement in the fires, but the incidents come amid a broader pattern of unexplained industrial accidents and infrastructure damage inside Russia since the start of the full-scale invasion. As tensions between Russia and Ukraine continue to escalate, questions are being raised about the reliability of Russian military equipment.
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