Russian state media said the drone blew up in a Russian town hundreds of kilometers from the border with Ukraine, injuring three people.
The explosion is believed to have taken place in the center of Kireevsk in the Tula region, about 220 kilometers south of Moscow and 420 kilometers from the nearest point in Ukraine. He reportedly damaged three residential buildings and left a sinkhole in the city center.
Reuters reported that state-owned Russian news agency TASS said the explosion was caused by a Ukrainian Tupolev Tu-141 Strizh drone.
Kyiv has not yet commented on the incident.
Moscow has previously claimed that Ukrainian drones flew into its territory and damaged civilian infrastructure, but Kyiv denied these allegations.
“The cause of the explosion in the Tula region was a tactical reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV),” TASS reports, citing a police source.
None of the three victims received life-threatening injuries. According to TASS, two people born in 2002 and 2006 received shrapnel wounds, according to a local EMERCOM officer. “There is a crater. This explosion occurred in the very center of the city,” the official added.
Reuters said videos and photos showing a dirty sinkhole near a badly damaged building have surfaced on social media, but said it could not immediately verify the images.
Russia updated its own drone strike campaign this month, with at least 71 Iranian-made kamikaze drones launched this month, according to the UK Department of Defense.
Attacks have resumed after a two-week lull, suggesting “Russia has likely started receiving regular supplies in small numbers” from Shahed drones, the defense ministry said Sunday. Moscow is likely to launch drones from two directions: Russia’s Krasnodar region immediately to the east of Ukraine and Bryansk region to the north.
“This gives Russia the opportunity to attack a wide sector of Ukraine and reduces the flight time to targets in northern Ukraine. Probably, this is also another attempt to expand the air defense of Ukraine,” the Defense Ministry added.
Meanwhile, NATO condemned Russia for its “dangerous and irresponsible” nuclear rhetoric after Vladimir Putin announced he would plant tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.
“NATO is on alert and we are monitoring the situation closely. We have not seen any change in Russia’s nuclear posture that would force us to adjust ours,” a NATO spokesman said on Sunday.
“Russia’s reference to NATO sharing nuclear weapons is completely misleading. NATO allies act in full compliance with their international obligations. Russia has consistently violated its arms control obligations, most recently by suspending its participation in New START, the nuclear arms reduction treaty between Russia and the United States.
Source: I News
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