The government of Ukraine explicitly denied Ukrainian military were responsible for a reported helicopter attack about twenty miles into Russia, video of which is circulating on social media, NBC News reports.
News organizations have been able to confirm that there was a fire at the oil and gas depot at Belgorod, but the cause of the fire cannot be confirmed and video of two helicopters attacking the site has not been verified.
“For some reason they say that we did it, but according to our information this does not correspond to reality,” Ukraine Security Council Secretary Oleksiy Danilov said on Ukrainian television.
In Russia’s disinformation campaign surrounding its invasion of Ukraine, the circulating video could have been a fake, or it could be that it was a false flag attack ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin to justify escalating violence in the attack.