Watch: Ukraine launches ‘massive’ drone attack on Russian city

People urged to evacuate from Lipetsk as Ukrainian forces continue their cross-border offensive

Ukraine escalated its recent cross-border offensive against Russia with a “massive” drone attack on Friday.
Igor Artamonov, governor of the Lipetsk region, said it had “been subjected to a massive UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) attack”, adding that at least six people were injured and the power facility was damaged.
There were also reports of emergency services called to a fire at a military airfield though no official cause was suggested by Russian state media.
In a message on Telegram, Mr Artamonov urged residents to evacuate from four areas on the outskirts of Lipetsk city “to eliminate the consequences of the detonation of explosive objects”.
He added: “Temporary accommodation points and transport are being prepared.”
Russia’s defence ministry said its forces shot down 75 Ukrainian drones overnight from Thursday to Friday, including 26 in the Belgorod region which borders Ukraine, 19 over Lipetsk, seven over Kursk, and 13 over the annexed Crimean peninsula and surrounding Black Sea.
Seven nautical drones headed for Crimea were also destroyed, it added.
Lipetsk city is about 210 miles from the Ukrainian border with Russia’s Kursk region, where pro-Kyiv forces for days have been waging an offensive on Russian territory.
The Ukrainian offensive in the Kursk region over the past few days appears to be the most significant attack on Russian soil since the war in Ukraine began in 2022.
It has involved 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 Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, said 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,” Mr Zelensky said, without directly referring to the offensive.
Russia’s defence ministry said on Thursday that its troops were “continuing to destroy” armed Ukrainian units and were using air strikes, rocket and artillery fire to try to push them back.
It said it had rushed in reserves and was “thwarting attempts to break through” deeper into Kursk.
Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, has called the incursion a “large-scale provocation” by Kyiv.