In the Russian city of Orel, located approximately 170 kilometres from the country's border with Ukraine, two unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) fell on a fuel and gas facility, said Andrey Klychkov, the governor of Oryol Oblast, on Tuesday, 9 January. According to him, the incident caused a fire which was "quickly localized".

Klychkov later added that three individuals sustained moderate injuries as a result of the drones' attack. Two of them refused hospitalization. The governor also reported that another drone had fallen on a non-residential structure in the area of the small settlement of Malaya Sakhanka in Oryol Oblast, with no casualties reported.

Russian Telegram channels Mash and 112 claim that a Ukrainian kamikaze drone targeted the Orelnetfeproduct oil depot. The telegram channel Shot claims that the UAV hit an empty tank. Additionally, it is reported that a building of Orelenergo was attacked. According to public sources, the facility houses the dispatch station of the local power grid.

The Russian Ministry of Defence reported on the afternoon of January 9that eight Ukrainian UAVs had been neutralized over Kursk and Oryol Oblasts. Furthermore, the Russian Defense Ministry announced the destruction of a Ukrainian drone by air defense systems over Bryansk Oblast. The Ukrainian Armed Forces have not commented on this information.

Sources from Ukrainska Pravda and RBC Ukraine informed that the drone attack on Orel was orchestrated by Ukraine's Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defence with the assistance of the Ministry of Digital Transformation and the "Come Back Alive" fund.

  Russia, Oryol

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