A Ukrainian drone attack sparked a blaze in a Russian town suspected of housing an arsenal for missiles, ammunition and explosives.
The air strike on Toropets in the western part of Russia’s Tver region also forced the partial evacuation of residents, regional authorities said on Wednesday.
Firefighters were trying to contain the fire, said Igor Rudenya, the governor of the region located northwest of Moscow.
Russia was reported in 2018 to be building an arsenal for the storage of missiles, ammunition and explosives in Toropets, a 1,000-year-old town, which has a population of just over 11,000.
There was no information about casualties as a result of the Wednesday attack on Tver.
Schools and kindergartens were moved online in the Zapadnodvinsky district, which borders the Toropetsky district, the administration of the district said on the social VKontakte network.
Russia’s air defence units destroyed 54 drones that Ukraine launched overnight targeting five western Russian regions, according to defence officials.
Regional governors reported no damages from those attacks.
But the defence ministry report did not mention the Tver region, which borders the Moscow region to its southeast.
Kyiv has previously said its strikes on Russia target military, energy and transport infrastructure key to Moscow’s war efforts.
Russian officials rarely disclose the full extent of damage inflicted by Ukrainian attacks.
As Ukraine has ramped up its domestic drone production over the past two years, it has increased attacks on Russian territory.
Ukraine’s biggest-ever drone attack targeted the Russian capital in September, killing at least one, wrecking homes and disrupting flights at Moscow’s airports.
A residential building was also damaged following a drone attack in Ramenskoye in the Moscow region earlier this month.
Vladimir Putin’s regime has been unleashing waves of “glide bombs” at towns and cities in Ukraine from planes taking off from air bases far from the frontline.
Meanwhile, Russian drones attacked energy facilities in Ukraine’s northeastern city of Sumy, the regional authorities said on Wednesday.
No people were injured in the attack based on preliminary information but repeated strikes on the region’s energy facilities have strained the system, they added.
Regional authorities said that air defences shot down 16 drones over the Sumy region during the overnight attack.
The local officials said on Tuesday that Russia fired missiles at energy infrastructure in the city of Sumy after an overnight drone strike on the region reduced power in some areas and forced authorities to use back-up power systems.
Ukraine’s energy ministry said Russia’s Tuesday attacks had caused a fire at a power substation in the Sumy region and cut power to more than 281,000 consumers.
Power was later partially restored, it added.