Russia’s Lipetsk region hit by ‘massive’ drone attack, governor says

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(Reuters) -Russia evacuated people on Friday from parts of its western region of Lipetsk after a “massive attack” by Ukrainian drones caused explosions, disrupted power supply and wounded nine people, regional governor Igor Artamonov said.

Four villages, some of them situated near an air force base, were being evacuated after a state of emergency was declared in the Lipetsk municipal district, Artamonov said on the Telegram messaging app.

A fire had broken out at the air base outside Lipetsk city, the Interfax news agency reported, citing local emergency officials.

Artamonov said the regional government has cancelled all entertainment events and would provide increased security for other events such as sports.

“We will not be frightened, we will not give in, but we also do not plan to risk the lives of our people,” he said.

Separately, the governor of the Russian-held city of Sevastopol in Crimea, Mikhail Razvozhayev, said on Telegram that Russian forces destroyed three drones and three drone boats near the city.

Russia’s defence ministry said a total of 75 Ukrainian drones have been destroyed overnight over Russia, according to the RIA news agency, most of them over the Belgorod and Lipetsk regions.

Ukrainian authorities have not reported any strikes on the Lipetsk region.

(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Clarence Fernandez, Miral Fahmy and Michael Perry)