Russian shelling blamed for corrosive gas leak

Russian shells hit a chemical plant near the north-eastern Ukrainian city of Sumy, causing an ammonia leak, reported British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), quoting officials.

Residents of Novoselytsya, near Sumy, were told to stay indoors but the region's governor, Dmytro Zhyvytskyy, later said the leak had been contained.

A 50-ton tank of the poison gas was damaged by the attack, local officials said, creating an ammonia cloud, said BBC.

Ammonia is largely used to make fertiliser and is corrosive.

The Sumykhimprom chemical plant was attended by emergency crews, and the cloud affected an area of about 2.5km (1.5 miles), said BBC, quoting Dmytro Zhyvytskyas saying.

Click BBC to read the detail report.