Major fire damages second Russian shopping centre in four days

Fire broke out at construction supplies centre in Balashikha

A fire the size of a football pitch has caused untold damage to a shopping centre near Moscow - just four days after a major blaze damaged a second in the region.

Images posted on Telegram by Russia‘s emergencies ministry showed that the fire at a construction supplies centre in Balashikha had caused part of the roof to collapse, with smoke billowing into the air.

The fire in the satellite town of 500,000 people on the outskirts of the Russian capital grew to 9,000 sq m (100,000 sq feet) before eventually being brough under control, the ministry said in a statement.