Kyiv, (APP – UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News – 9th Aug, 2024) Ukraine pressed on with a major cross-border incursion into Russia, where state media and local officials reported early Friday a fire at a military airfield and “massive” drone attack hundreds of kilometres from the border.
The cross-frontier offensive in Kursk region over the past few days appears to be the most significant attack on Russian soil since the war in Ukraine began, involving around 1,000 troops and more than two dozen armoured vehicles and tanks, according to the Russian army.
Kyiv has not officially taken responsibility for the operation, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his evening address on Thursday that Russia needed to “feel” the consequences of its invasion.
“Russia brought the war to our land and should feel what it has done,” Zelensky said, without directly referring to the offensive.
Early Friday, official Russian news agencies TASS and RIA Novosti reported a fire at a military airfield in the neighbouring Lipetsk region citing the local emergencies ministry directorate, though neither outlet offered a cause.
The reports came just hours after regional governor Igor Artamonov announced on Telegram at around 3:00 am (0000 GMT) that Lipetsk had “been subjected to a massive UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) attack”, later adding a local power facility was damaged.
In a subsequent message, Artamonov urged residents to ignore calls on social media to leave Lipetsk — saying they were “spread by the enemy in order to sow panic” — only to reverse course less than an hour later.
“To eliminate the consequences of the detonation of explosive objects, a state of emergency is introduced in Lipetsk municipal district,” he said in a post at around 4:00 am, listing evacuation orders for four settlements on the outskirts of Lipetsk city.
“Temporary accommodation points and transport are being prepared.”
Artamonov said preliminary reports suggested at least six people had been wounded as a result of the attack.
He later announced around 7:00 am that the red threat level for the city had been lifted.
