A fire erupted after Ukraine launched a barrage of drone strikes on a Russian military base in Lipetsk amid a major cross-border incursion, footage from social media showed.
Residents of four settlements near the Lipetsk airbase were reportedly being evacuated after the explosions as local authorities declared a state of emergency.
The large-scale drone attack disrupted power supplies and left nine people wounded, according to regional governor Igor Artamonov. More than 700 guided bombs were destroyed in the strike, the Ukrainian National News agency reported. Glide bombs are a type of precision-guided munition that combines a conventional bomb and a cruise missile.
“We will not be frightened; we will not give in, but we also do not plan to risk the lives of our people,” Artamonov said.
Around 1,000 Ukrainian troops in tanks and armored vehicles successfully penetrated Russia’s defenses and broke through the border into the Kursk region in the early hours …