An ammunition dump caught fire in a Russian region bordering Ukraine and two other nearby regions reported explosions early Wednesday, local authorities have said.
“According to preliminary information, an ammunition dump is on fire near the village of Staraya Nelidovka,” Belgorod region Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on social media.
Gladkov later said the fire had been extinguished, and there was no damage to nearby houses or civilian injuries.
The Kursk region north of Belgorod reported overnight explosions in the administrative center of Kursk.
Kursk Governor Roman Starovoit said air defense systems were deployed at 2:45 a.m. and there were no casualties. He later said the defense systems shot down a Ukrainian drone.
In the Voronezh region east of Kursk and Belgorod, two explosions were heard 300 kilometers from the Ukrainian border near a Russian military airfield, according to the state-owned newspaper Rossiiskaya Gazeta.
Voronezh Governor Alexander Gusev said air defense systems shot down a small reconnaissance drone overnight.
“There is no threat to the life and health of the region’s residents,” Gusev wrote in a Telegram post.
“Terror” threat levels have been raised and extended in all three regions in the weeks since Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.
On Wednesday morning, state media reported that Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) detained two "Ukrainian Nazi sympathizers" suspected of plotting terrorist attacks in the Belgorod region.
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