LUGANSK, June 18. /TASS/. An explosion followed by an intense fire hit a gas pipeline in Lugansk, the capital of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR), in the early hours of Friday, the Luganskgaz state-run enterprise announced on Friday.

"An explosion, which resulted in an intense fire, hit a medium-pressure gas pipeline with a diameter of 425 mm in the early hours of June 18, 2021. As a result, 20 residential buildings and 21 communal facilities were temporarily disconnected from natural gas supply," the company said on its Telegram channel. There are no reports on casualties.

The enterprise added that law enforcement officers were working at the scene to determine the cause of the explosion. Meanwhile, Luganskgaz workers started to repair the gas pipeline.