2 injured in blast in Russian town caused by drone

Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox

placeholder Credit: Lee Pei Jie

Follow topic:

MOSCOW - A drone caused an explosion in the centre of a Russian town on Sunday, hurting two people and damaging three residential buildings, a Russian news outlet reported, citing a law enforcement source and an emergency service official.

“The cause of the explosion in the Tula region was a tactical reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicle,” Tass news agency quoted a law enforcement agency source as saying.

The blast occurred in the centre of Kireyevsk, located some 220km south of Moscow.

“The explosion sounded at 3.19pm (8.19pm local time). Two victims, born in 2002 and 2006, have shrapnel wounds. Emergency services are on the scene,” a local emergency services representative told Tass.

“There is a crater. This explosion was in the heart of the city,” the representative added.

Social media videos and pictures showed a muddy crater near a building with its roof and walls heavily damaged. Shards of glass from broken windows were spread across the stairwell of a nearby apartment block.

Reuters could not immediately verify the images.

Russia has said in the past that Ukrainian drones have flown into its territory and caused damage to civilian infrastructure, an assertion that Kyiv denies. Reuters

See more on