A drone attack ignited a fire at a military facility in the Volgograd region of southern Russia on Thursday, as confirmed by regional officials and the country's Ministry of Defense. The incident occurred in the area of Marinovka, where a defense ministry facility was targeted by drones. Fortunately, there were no reported casualties resulting from the attack.
While the specific details of the damage caused by the attack were not disclosed by Volgograd Governor Andrei Bocharov, reports from Russian Telegram channels indicated that the drones aimed to strike a military air base near Marinovka in the village of Oktyabrsky.
Although Ukraine did not officially claim responsibility for the attack, it coincides with the country's recent escalation of hostilities towards Russia. Ukraine launched a ground offensive into the Russian region of Kursk and conducted drone attacks on Moscow the day before, described by the capital's mayor as one of the most significant drone attacks since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Footage circulating on Russian social media platforms depicted thick black smoke billowing from the air base and an explosion in the night sky near the facility. Marinovka, the location of the attack, is situated approximately 300 kilometers east of the Ukrainian border and a similar distance west of the Kazakhstan border.
According to the Baza Telegram channel, which has close ties to Russian law enforcement, one drone was intercepted several kilometers away from the airfield, while debris from another drone fell onto a trailer near the base, triggering a fire. Data from NASA fire satellites, typically used to monitor forest fires, indicated multiple fires erupting around the air base's apron, where fighter jets have been observed parked in the past.
