Russia region orders evacuation after Ukraine drone attack

Smoke and flames rise following a Ukrainian drone attack in Toropets in the Tver region, Russia. (Reuters)

Kyiv, September 18 — A partial evacuation has been ordered in Russia's Tver region after a "massive" Ukrainian drone attack sparked a fire there, the local governor has said.

Igor Rudenya said emergency services in the town of Toropets were trying to "localise" the blaze caused by falling drone wreckage. He did not say whether there were any casualties.

Unverified footage has emerged purportedly showing a massive blast in the town. Video footage circulating on social media showed detonations and smoke covering a large stretch of sky.

AFP and Reuters news agencies have quoted Ukrainian sources as saying an ammunitions warehouse had been struck.

The military site reportedly housed fuel tanks, as well as artillery shells, ballistic missiles, and explosives, in a series of warehouses. These are all weapons that have been used in Russia’s relentless full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

This latest attack by Ukraine is the kind it has been wanting to carry out with missiles supplied by its western allies. However, in the absence of approval from the US and UK, it has once again hit Russian targets with drones it has made itself.

The target this time, though, is significant. A military arsenal, worth almost £30 million ($39m), has seemingly gone up in a series of explosions. NASA reported a series of heat sources from satellite imagery.

A light-magnitude earthquake was even reported in the surrounding Tver region.

The head of Ukraine's Centre for Countering Disinformation, Andriy Kovalenko, said on Telegram that in addition to its own ammunition, including Grad rockets, Russia had also started to store North Korean missiles in Toropets.

None of these claims have been verified by the BBC.

Toropets lies about 380km (236 miles) north-west of Russia's capital Moscow, and some 470km north of the border with Ukraine.

Over the past few months, Kyiv has grown in confidence and ambition as it has ramped up drone attacks inside Russia. It’s struck as far as 1800km in the past, when a long-range radar was hit in the city of Orsk.

On Wednesday morning, the authorities in Toropets said buses had already been prepared for the evacuation.

They also claimed the situation was "under control" in the town of about 13,000 residents.

The authorities did not say how many people were being evacuated.

Meanwhile, Russia's state media reported that regional schools and kindergartens would be closed on Wednesday.

The level of destruction in Toropets will give Ukrainian forces a much-needed morale boost. It is also hoped it sends the West a political message - that targeting sites inside Russia helps Ukraine defend itself, and will not cause an escalation with Moscow.

Russia's defence ministry reported on Wednesday that it had destroyed a total of 54 drones in overnight attacks across five Russian regions - Bryansk, Kursk, Oryol, Smolensk and Belgorod.

Belgorod Region Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said four civilians were injured in a "drone attack on a minibus" in the city of Shebekino.

Ukraine has not commented on the reported attacks.

Also overnight, Ukrainian air defences were engaged against oncoming Russian drones near the capital Kyiv, city military administration head Serhiy Popko said.

There were also reports of blasts in Ukraine's north-eastern city of Sumy, near the Russian border, and the regional authorities later 16 drones were shot down. However, the authorities were forced to use back-up power systems after energy infrastructure repeatedly come under fire.

In total, the Ukrainian air force said it had shot down 46 of 52 drones launched by Moscow over the country overnight. Local authorities said one person was killed in the central region of Kirovohrad, while a 90-year-old woman was wounded in Kropyvnytskyi.

The claims by both Russian and Ukrainian officials have not been independently verified.

Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.