Russia has triggered a new scare after claiming an ammonia pipeline has been ruptured by shelling releasing what appears to be a poisonous gas cloud into the air.
Pro-Moscow sources have released footage of what they claim shows a shocking crack in an ammonia pipeline, in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine.
It’s the world’s longest ammonia pipeline, and is alleged to be spilling the toxic gas out into the air.
The horrifying spectre comes just a day after the catastrophe at the Nova Kakhovka dam.
Both Ukraine and Russia pointed the finger of blame at the other after the dam was sabotaged and blown up.
This led to an ecological disaster on the banks of the Dnieper River with thousands of people on either side evacuating their homes.
Russian saboteurs are prime suspects in blowing up the dam and triggering the massive floods.
Ukraine are now facing a major humanitarian disaster as more than 20 towns were overrun by the deluge, with shocking footage emerging from the area.
Mirroring this incident, Russia and Ukraine have both blamed the other for the attack on the ammonia pipeline near the village of Masiutovka.
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If confirmed, the poisonous gas could pose a potentially fatal health threat - and if a deliberate attack, there are concerns it would amount to chemical warfare.
The alleged site is in the “grey zone” between the two warring sides but President Volodymyr Zelensky said that plans were underway to evacuate people from the region.
He also suggested it had been damaged by artillery fire from Russian forces.
But whilst he more forcefully accused Russia of “terrorism” in relation to the dam attack, he called the ammonia pipeline rupture the “consequences of war”.
He added: “In the grey zone one weapon or another could have been used – most likely, artillery.
“It's one story when it is the consequences of war. Yes, the Russian Federation is to blame, but those are the consequences of war.
“But [in Kakhovka], we understand that this is terrorism. They mined it in advance and did it with their own hands.
“We see this as a completely different category."
The shocking footage shows the gas spilling out of a small building, and spewing into the surrounding forest.
The 1,534 mile pipeline stretches from Russia’s Togliatti on the Volga River to three ports in the Black Sea.
But it has been out of operation since Vladimir Putin initiated his bloody invasion of Ukraine in February last year.
Oleh Sinehubov, the governor of Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, said there had been no recorded pollution from a pipe rupture as of late Tuesday.
"There is no threat to people's lives and health,” he posted.
The footage was first published by Moscow-appointed official Daniil Bezsonov, deputy information minister in the occupied Donetsk People’s Republic.
He is seen as having links to the Russian secret services.
One reporter at a branch of state media claimed that Ukraine forces were hit hard by the leak, leading to at least one death but this has not been proven.
The Russians see the pipeline as crucial to restarting a grain and fertiliser export deal with Ukraine despite the war.
