Residents of Russia's Tver region return to their homes after partial evacuation

ISTANBUL

Residents of Russia's Tver region are forced to return to their homes after the region's governor ordered a partial evacuation early Wednesday morning in response to an overnight Ukrainian drone attack.

Governor Igor Rudenya said access to the town of Toropets would be reopened from 12 noon local time (09:00 GMT), according to a statement from the regional administration on Russian social media platform VKontakte.

He further said that the city's electricity, water and gas supplies were functioning.

Rudenya had previously announced a partial evacuation from areas where Russian air defenses are deployed to “ensure the safety of residents.”

The governor said a fire broke out in Toropets, about 470 kilometers north of the Ukrainian border, due to debris from downed Ukrainian drones.

He also said that all rescue teams in the region had been dispatched to the scene and that the fire was being brought under control.

Neither Rudenya nor the regional administration provided information about possible victims of the attack.

The Russian Defense Ministry said in a separate statement that it shot down 54 Ukrainian drones during a nighttime raid on five regions.

Although the Tver region was not mentioned, the statement said seven drones were shot down over the neighboring Smolensk region to the southwest.

Meanwhile, several Ukrainian media outlets, including the state-run Ukrinform news agency, reported that the country's State Security Service (SBU) and special forces had attacked a Russian Defense Ministry warehouse in Toropets.

The reports, citing SBU sources, claimed that the warehouse was used to store missiles and artillery ammunition.

However, there has been no official comment from Kiev on the incident and the Russian authorities have not yet responded to the media reports.

The Anadolu Agency website contains only a portion of the news offered to AA News Broadcasting System (HAS) subscribers, in a summarized form. Please contact us regarding subscription options.