Ukrainian drones shot down in Russia – governor

A pair of Ukrainian drones were destroyed in Russia’s Kursk Region, which borders Ukraine from the northeast, the region’s governor has said.

Governor Roman Starovoyt wrote on social media that “Russian air defense troops shot down two Ukrainian drones” early Monday morning in the village of Borovskoye. He said no one was hurt in the incident.

“The terrorist alert in the region will be extended,” Starovoyt added later during a government meeting. The governor earlier said that mortar shells had hit a border crossing on Saturday, also with no casualties.

Also on Monday morning, a fire broke out at an oil depot in Bryansk, a city around 150km (93 miles) from the Ukrainian border. The cause of the fire is unclear.

On April 1, Russia accused Kiev of conducting a helicopter raid on an oil depot in Belgorod, another city in a region bordering Ukraine. Kiev has denied carrying out attacks on Russian territory.

Russia attacked the neighboring state in late February, following Ukraine’s failure to implement the terms of the Minsk agreements, first signed in 2014, and Moscow’s eventual recognition of the Donbass republics of Donetsk and Lugansk. The German and French brokered protocols were designed to give the breakaway regions special status within the Ukrainian state.

The Kremlin has since demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that will never join the US-led NATO military bloc. Kiev insists the Russian offensive was completely unprovoked and has denied claims it was planning to retake the two republics by force.

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