A major fire erupted at the Kamaz truck plant in the city of Naberezhnye Chelny in Russia’s Tatarstan region on April 28, according to reports from local Telegram channels.

Naberezhnye Chelny reported that the assembly shop of the factory was engulfed in flames at 6:12.

According to Novynarnia, Naberezhnye Chelny is home to Kamaz’s main production facilities, which are the primary supplier of automotive vehicles to the Russian military.

Kamaz is affiliated with the Russian state corporation Rostec, which owns just under 50% of the company. In 2023, Kamaz’s profits surged by 2.4 times, reaching a net profit of 12,703 billion rubles ($138 million), as per its published financial statements.

Kamaz PJSC, its CEO and Russian billionaire Sergei Kogogin, as well as nine subsidiary companies are under sanctions by the EU, Ukraine, USA, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan.

The sanctions were imposed due to Kamaz’s production and supply of vehicles to the Russian military, which the sanctioning entities say “bears responsibility for supporting, materially or financially, actions that undermined or threatened the territorial integrity, sovereignty, and independence of Ukraine.”

However, the Kamaz plant continues acquiring spare parts from Austria via a sanctions loophole. Read more: Russian billionaire family exploits EU sanctions loopholes to support Russian military – investigation