Russia forced to declare 'state of emergency' after devastating Ukrainian strike

A "state of emergency" has been declared in parts of Russia after a devastating Ukrainian drone strike on a facility storing ammo. A video posted on social media appears to show rising clouds of thick smoke in the Voronezh region while successive loud explosions could be heard.

Governor Aleksandr Gusev said falling wreckage triggered the "detonation of explosive objects", adding no casualties were reported, but residents in a nearby village in the Podgorensky district had to be evacuated. Roads were also closed with emergency services, military and government officials working at the scene.

A Ukrainian security official said a strike had been carried out on a warehouse storing ammunition in the village of Serhiivka in Russia's Voronezh region.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: "The enemy stored surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missiles, shells for tanks and artillery, and boxes of cartridges for firearms.

"It is from this warehouse that the occupiers supply ammunition to their troops in Ukraine."

The official also said Ukraine’s State Security Service was behind a drone attack on an oil depot in Russia's Krasnodar region on Saturday (July 6).

Russian emergency services had reported falling drone debris had started a fire at the site, which was successfully extinguished by Sunday morning.

Russia’s Ministry of Defence did not mention either strike in its morning briefing, but said air defence systems had destroyed a Ukrainian drone over the Belgorod region.

The strikes come after a Ukrainian military spokesperson said Kyiv’s troops had retreated from a neighbourhood on the outskirts of Chasiv Yar, a strategically important town in Ukraine’s Donetsk region which has been reduced to rubble under a month-long Russian attack.

Russian forces have tried for months to grind out gains in the east of Ukraine in an apparent attempt to lock the Ukrainians into a war of attrition.

In a joint probe published on Friday (July 5), independent Russian news outlets Meduza and Mediazona reported that Moscow’s forces were losing between 200 and 250 soldiers in Ukraine everyday.

Military analysts have said Chasiv Yar’s fall could also compromise critical Ukrainian supply routes and put nearby cities in jeopardy, bringing Russia closer to its stated aim of seizing the entire Donetsk region.

Russian strikes have also heavily targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. Officials in Kyiv said on Saturday that the city had restored two-thirds of its power generation capacity after recent Russian missile attacks destroyed key power plants.

Elsewhere in Ukraine, 14 people died after a bus collided with a cargo vehicle, leaving a single survivor, according to Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko. The victims included a six-year-old child.