MOSCOW (Reuters) – A Ukrainian drone caused an explosion in the center of a Russian town on Sunday, injuring three people and damaging three residential buildings, the TASS news agency reported, citing a source in law enforcement and emergency services.
Kiev did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It has previously denied Russian assertions that its drones – also known as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) – have flown into Russian territory and damaged civilian infrastructure.
“A Ukrainian Tu-141 Strizh drone was the cause of an explosion in the town of Kirievsk, Tula region,” TASS quoted a law enforcement source as saying. The drone was packed with explosives.”
The explosion occurred in the center of Kirievsk, about 220 km south of Moscow.
Russian news agencies reported that none of the three people injured in the blast were believed to have been seriously injured.
A representative of the local emergency services told TASS news agency that the blast, which occurred at around 3.20pm (1220GMT), left a large crater in the heart of Kirievsk.
Pictures and videos on social media showed a muddy crater near a building with severely damaged roof and walls. Fragments of broken window glass were strewn across the stairs of a nearby apartment building.
Reuters could not immediately verify the photos.
Russia had previously reported drone attacks in several towns and cities, some hundreds of kilometers from its border with Ukraine.
Three members of the Russian Air Force were killed on December 26 when a drone believed to be Ukrainian was shot down at the main Russian strategic bomber base near the city of Saratov after it had flown hundreds of kilometers through Russian airspace.
(Reuters report Editing by Gareth Jones)
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