(Reuters) – Ukraine overnight drone attacks caused an explosion and a fire at an ethanol manufacturing plant and damaged two other alcohol producing enterprises in Russia, Russian officials said on Tuesday.
A blast shook the Biokhim biochemical plant in Russia’s Tambov region, sparking a short-lived fire, Tambov governor Maxim Yegorov said on the Telegram messaging app.
“According to preliminary information, there are no casualties, Yegorov said .
Russia’s defence ministry said that its air defence units destroyed a total of 18 Ukrainian drones, but it did not mention Tambov in its tally.
Biokhim in the Tambov region, some 450 km (280 miles)southeast of Moscow, is one of Russia’s oldest manufacturers of “products of strategic importance for the state,” chiefly ethanol, according to the company’s website.
The governor of the Tula region, which borders Moscow to its north, said on Tuesday that a Ukraine drone attack damaged two distilleries, in the town of Yefremov and the village of Luzhkovskyi.
There were no injuries, Tula governor Dmitry Miliayev said Telegram, adding the situation was “under control”. It was not immediately clear how big the attacks were and Miliayev did not give any further details.
Another Ukraine drone attack damaged a boiler house and a non-residential building in Russia’s western region of Bryansk, which borders Ukraine, its governor said.
There were no injuries as a result of the attack, Bryansk governor Alexander Bogomaz said Telegram.
Reuters could not independently verify the reports. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine. Kyiv has often said that its air attacks inside Russia target infrastructure key to Russia’s war efforts and are a response to Moscow’s relentless bombing of Ukrainian territory.
(Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by Michael Perry)
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