Russia has begun evacuating people from parts of its western region of Lipetsk, after a “massive attack” by Ukrainian drones, regional governor, Igor Artamonov, said.

Writing on the Telegram messaging app in the early hours of Friday, Artamonov said Lipetsk had “been subjected to a massive UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle] attack”.

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He later reported explosions “far from civilian buildings” as well as damage to a local power facility.

At least six people were injured, he said.

Shortly afterwards, Russia’s state-run RIA Novosti and TASS news agencies reported a fire had broken out at a military airfield outside the city of Lipetsk, which has a population of about half a million people.

Lipetsk lies about 460 kilometres (286 miles) south of Moscow and about 300 kilometres (190 miles) from Ukraine’s eastern border.

Four villages were being evacuated after a local state of emergency was declared in the Lipetsk municipal district.

Artamonov dismissed calls circulating on social media that the entire city was being evacuated as a campaign of “psychological warfare” by Ukraine.

There was no word from Kyiv on the situation in Lipetsk.

The attacks come after Russia said it was engaged in fierce battles in the Kursk region after 1,000 Ukrainian troops supported by tanks and armoured vehicles launched a cross-border raid on August 6.

The Kursk assault appears to be the most significant attack on Russian soil since Moscow ordered its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.