Moscow Says Ammonia Leak In Sumy Region Is Result Of Ukrainian Nationalists' Provocation

A provocation by Ukrainian nationalists led to an ammonia leak detected in the vicinity of the Ukrainian city of Sumy, Russian defense ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Monday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 21st March, 2022) A provocation by Ukrainian nationalists led to an ammonia leak detected in the vicinity of the Ukrainian city of Sumy, Russian defense ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Monday.

Earlier in the day, Dmitry Zhivitsky, the head of Sumy Regional State Administration, said that an ammonia leak was detected at a chemical facility, adding that the incident occurred at 4:30 a.m. local time (2:30 GMT). On Saturday, the Russian defense ministry warned about the threat of provocations with toxic chemicals in the area by Ukrainian nationalists backed by the US and several EU countries in order to pin the fault on the Russian army.

"In the city of Sumy, a planned provocation by Ukrainian nationalists, about which the Russian Ministry of Defense officially warned a few days ago, was carried out at night," told reporters.

The official reiterated that the Russian armed forces have not planned and are not inflicting any strikes on Ukrainian facilities for the storage or production of toxic substances.

"The coordinates of all such facilities and data on poisonous substances stored there on the territory of Ukraine were obtained by us during the capture of combat documentation of the 4th brigade of the Ukrainian National Guard," he said, adding that Kiev is directly responsible for any possible incidents with Ukrainian facilities storing toxic substances.