MOSCOW, December 22. /TASS/. A local fire that broke out on the heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser Admiral Kuznetsov under repairs in a dry dock of a ship-repairing plant in Russia’s northwest has been extinguished and there is no damage to the warship, United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) CEO Alexey Rakhmanov told TASS on Thursday.

"There was no fire but a local ignition, which was put out at 11:30 a.m. by the workforce and firefighters present on the Shipyard’s premises. The ship’s damage control system was promptly activated and there is no damage," the USC chief executive assured.

Local emergency services told TASS earlier on Thursday that an ignition occurred aboard the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier. They specified that no one was injured in the incident and 20 people were evacuated from the warship.

The Admiral Kuznetsov was placed into a dry dock of the 35th Shipyard, a branch of the Zvyozdochka Ship Repair Center in Murmansk in early June. The timeframe of the warship’s delivery to the Navy was rescheduled several times.

USC Deputy CEO for Military Shipbuilding Vladimir Koroylov earlier told TASS that the aircraft carrier’s repairs and upgrade would be concluded in 2023 and the warship would be delivered to the Navy. In his estimate, after the upgrade, the Russian Navy will receive a warship with fundamentally different combat potential, which will serve for at least another 10-15 years.