A Russian city in the Kursk border region was targeted by drones overnight, Russian authorities said, with a clip on social media appearing to show a large area outside a residential building ablaze.
Regional governor Alexei Smirnov announced that fire had broken out following a drone attack in the residential area of the Zheleznogorsk in Kursk Oblast on Telegram late on Tuesday, The New Voice of Ukraine reports.
Smirnov claimed five drones were shot down, reporting a small fire on dry grass and the roof of an administrative building in the city, which is only around 56 miles from the border with Ukraine, as per the outlet.
A playground and several cars were also reportedly damaged in the fire. A video shared on social media appeared to show the strike area, with fires continuing to burn.
Ukraine had previously targeted a fuel depot in the city with drones back in March, according to reports.
Ukraine launched a suprise advance into Kursk in August, with the intention of diverting Russian troops away from eastern Ukraine.
Volodymyr Zelensky’s forces have claimed about 250 squre kilometres of territory so far, but Russia’s bombardment of eastern regions continues.
Earlier on Tuesday, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, a close ally of Putin, said a drone strike had damaged a special forces university visited by the Russian President just two months ago, in the North Caucasus republic of Chechnya.
If carried out by Kyiv’s forces, it would be the first such attack on the region since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022.
“At 6:30 this morning, the roof of an empty building on the territory of the Russian Special Forces University caught fire in Gudermes as a result of an unmanned aerial attack,” Kadyrov wrote on Telegram.
Gudermes is a town on the Sunzha River some 22 miles east of the capital Grozny.
Kadyrov said no one was killed or injured and the fire had been extinguished, adding that it didn’t cause any disruptions at the university.
The Chechen dictator said police were investigating the attack but did not say whether he thought Ukraine was responsible. Kyiv is yet to comment.
Anton Gerashchenko, a former deputy minister at the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs and current advisor at the department, shared pictures on X purporting to show the aftermath of the strike.
