Fire breaks out at Russian gas terminal near St Petersburg

MOSCOW — A fire broke out early Sunday at a natural gas terminal in the Russian Baltic Sea port of Ust-Luga, the regional governor said. The terminal, 110 kilometres  west of St Petersburg near the Estonian border, is operated by Novatek, Russia's largest independent natural gas producer.

"No casualties as a result of a fire at Novatek's terminal in the port of Ust-Luga. Personnel were evacuated," Aleksandr Drozdenko, governor of Leningrad Oblast, posted on Telegram along with a short video showing a massive fire and smoke at a chemical complex.

"A high alert regime has been introduced in the Kingiseppsky district [which includes the port]," he said, noting that the blaze was "localised".

The Russian ministry of emergency situations and local fire service were involved in fighting the blaze, he added.

Local official Yuri Zapalatski said the fire started just before 02:45am local time.

TASS news agency and other state media said the cause of the fire has not been announced.

Russia's Defence Ministry announced on Sunday that Ukrainian attacks overnight had been foiled but made no mention of any incident in the Leningrad region.

The Ria-Novosti agency said a 100 cubic metre container was on fire. The Ust-Luga complex processes natural gas condensate into naphtha, jet fuel and ship fuel components, according to Novatek's website. The Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline leading to Germany, which has never entered into service after a sabotage raid in September 2022, starts from the town of Ust-Luga.

Meanwhile, at least 25 people were killed and 20 injured in a strike on a market in the Russian-held city of Donetsk in east Ukraine, the region's Moscow-installed chief said on Sunday.

"At the moment, information about 25 dead has been confirmed. At least 20 more people have been injured," Denis Pushilin said on Telegram.

The Ukrainian city fell under the control of pro-Moscow separatists in 2014 and is regularly targeted by Kyiv’s forces.

During the night of January 1 four people died and 13 were wounded, including journalists, in strikes on Donetsk, the Russian-controlled authorities said.