A major Ukrainian drone attack triggered a huge explosion and forced the partial evacuation of residents near the site of a large Russian arsenal near the town of Toropets in Russia's western Tver region.
The Russian Defense Ministry said it had shot down 54 Ukrainian drones launched overnight, half of them over the Kursk border region, where Ukrainian forces have been waging a counteroffensive since August, but didn't mention Toropets.
Toropets has a population of just over 11,000 and is about 400 kilometers (250 miles) west of Moscow.
Firefighters were trying to contain the blaze, Igor Rudenya, the governor of the Tver region, said in a post on the region's Telegram messaging channel. He did not say what was burning.
NASA satellites picked up several heat sources emanating from the site in the early hours of Wednesday, and seismic monitoring stations picked up what sensors thought was a small earthquake in the area.
Power cuts were announced in parts of the Tver region on Wednesday, and schools and kindergartens were canceled, the local administration said, following reports of a drone attack on the region.
According to Ukrainian security sources, Ukrainian drones struck a missile and artillery storage facility in Toropets, causing a powerful explosion and massive fire.
