Downed drone sparks fire in Russian region adjoining Ukraine

A fire broke out Saturday in Russia’s Voronezh region bordering Ukraine after a drone was downed, triggering an explosion of incendiary devices, the local governor said on Saturday.

Russian anti-air defence systems “detected and neutralised a drone” early on Saturday morning over Voronezh, Alexander Gusev wrote on Telegram.

“No-one was injured” but when the drone fell, it sparked a large fire “that spread to explosive devices and caused them to detonate”, Gusev continued, without providing details.

“A decision was taken to evacuate residents of a village” to neighbouring areas because of the blaze, he said.

Russian Telegram channels said the fire broke out in a local munitions depot.

For the past month, Russia has faced a large-scale cross-border Ukrainian offensive in the neighbouring Kursk region and announces almost daily that it has destroyed Ukrainian drones targeting its territory.

Kyiv says the drone strikes are in response to Russian bombardments that have, since February 2022, targeted its military and industrial facilities and killed numerous civilians. (BSS/AFP)