ReutersThirteen people were injured in the Russian region of Tver, after a major Ukrainian drone attack sparked a fire there, according to the country’s health ministry.
Unverified images have emerged showing a huge explosion in the city. A video circulating on social media showed the explosion and smoke covering the sky.
An order was issued to evacuate the district after the strike in the early hours of Wednesday. The district manager later encouraged the residents to return, saying that all the city’s infrastructure is working normally again.
AFP and Reuters news agencies quoted Ukrainian sources as saying that an ammunition depot had been hit.
The military base reportedly stored fuel tanks, as well as artillery shells, missiles, and explosives, in a series of warehouses. These are all weapons that have been used in Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
This latest attack by Ukraine is of the type it has been seeking to carry out with missiles supplied by its western allies. However, in lack of approval from the US and UKit has also hit Russian targets with self-made drones.
The target this time, however, is big. The army, which cost around £30 million ($39m), appeared to have gone up in a series of explosions. NASA has reported a series of heat sources from satellite images.
A moderate earthquake was even reported in the vicinity of Tver.
The head of the Center for Counting Disinformation of Ukraine, Andriy Kovalenko, said in Telegram that, in addition to its weapons, including Grad rockets, Russia has started to stop. North Korean missiles in Toropets.
None of these claims have been confirmed by the BBC.
Toropets lies about 380 km (236 miles) northwest of the Russian capital Moscow, and about 470 km north of the border with Ukraine.
In the past few months, Kyiv has grown in confidence and ambition as it has increased its airstrikes in Russia. It reached 1800km (1118 miles) in the past, when the long-range radar was hit in the city of Orsk.
In the early hours of Wednesday, Toropets authorities said that the buses had already been prepared for people to leave.
They also said that the situation is “under control” in the town of about 13,000 people.
Authorities did not say how many people were being evacuated.
Meanwhile, Russian state media reported that regional schools and kindergartens will be closed on Wednesday.
The level of destruction in Toropets will give Ukrainian forces a much needed morale boost. It is also hoped that it sends a political message to the West – that targeting areas inside Russia helps Ukraine defend itself, and will not provoke Moscow’s escalation.
The Russian Defense Ministry reported on Wednesday that it had destroyed 54 planes that had been attacked overnight in five Russian regions – Bryansk, Kursk, Oryol, Smolensk and Belgorod.
Belgorod Region Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said four civilians were injured in a “taxis drone attack” in the town of Shebekino.
Ukraine has not commented on the reported attack.
And overnight, Ukrainian planes were operating against incoming Russian planes near the capital Kyiv, said the head of the city’s military administration, Serhiy Popko.
There were also reports of an explosion in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumy, near the Russian border, and later the shooting of 16 regional officials. However, the authorities were forced to use backup power systems after the power infrastructure was repeatedly attacked.
In all, Ukraine’s military said it shot down 46 of the 52 drones launched by Moscow across the country overnight. Local authorities say one person died in central Kirovohrad, and a 90-year-old woman was injured in Kropyvnytskyi.
The claims by both Russian and Ukrainian officials have never been independently verified.
Russian President Vladimir Putin launched an all-out invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.