In Moscow, the building of the Lebedev Institute of Precision Mechanics and Computer Science, associated with the Russian defense industry, burned down.

Astra telegram channel published the photos of the fire.

The fire in the administrative building, located on the Warsaw Highway, broke out late on Wednesday evening, February 19.

The fire covered an area of 1500 square meters. Later, the roof of the building collapsed. Gas cylinders inside the building exploded in the flames.

According to the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations, 30 people who were in the building left on their own.

The fire was assigned an increased level of complexity. No information is available about the victims or the cause of the fire.

More than 170 emergency personnel and 50 pieces of equipment were on the scene.

A firefighting helicopter, which dropped over 400 tons of water on the burning building, was used to extinguish the fire.

Nevertheless, the fire continued throughout the night. As of 8 a.m. on February 20, the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations announced that the fire had been extinguished.

According to official data, the Lebedev Institute of Precision Mechanics and Computer Science is engaged in, among other things, the development of “high-performance computing systems used to ensure national security,” as well as devices and software for “digital telecommunications systems and fiber-optic communication lines” and “geographic information and navigation systems.”

In addition, the institute is developing a new generation of “multilayer printed circuit boards and surface mount technology.”

As a reminder, on the night of February 19, strike drones hit an oil refinery in Syzran, causing a fire to break out at the plant.