'Please remain calm' — Explosions in Russia's Oryol Oblast, residents claim Ukrainian missile attack, governor says drones
Editor's Note: This is a developing story.
The Russian city of Oryol came under attack overnight on Nov. 5, according to local residents, Russian media, and the regional governor.
Residents said they heard multiple explosions in Oryol and posted footage of the attack to social media, the Telegram news channel Astra reported. According to locals, it sounded like the city was being attacked by missiles.
Footage posted by residents was filmed roughly 1 to 1.5 kilometers from the Oryol thermal plant.
"The attack was carried out using a reactive weapon — either a missile or a jet-powered UAV. In the videos, there are no sounds of an air raid warning, no noise from air defense systems, and no characteristic buzzing of a drone,” Astra's OSINT analyst claimed.
Oryol Oblast Governor Andrey Klychkov claimed that Ukrainian drones were targeting the region and that Russian air defense units destroyed the UAVs. Debris from the intercepted drones damaged homes and an outbuilding, he said.
Drones also struck energy infrastructure near the city of Vladimir, Astra reported.
"Specialists are working on site. Recovery efforts will begin at daylight. Please remain calm. All essential systems are operating normally," regional Governor Alexander Avdeyev said.
In Yaroslavl oblast, local authorities said Ukrainian drones damaged oil refineries in two districts.
The Russian Defense Ministry claimed that a total of 40 Ukrainian drones were shot down overnight across several regions, including 11 over Voronezh, 8 over Rostov, 6 over Kursk, 6 over occupied Crimea, 5 over Bryansk, 2 over Belgorod, and 2 over Oryol.
The Kyiv Independent could not verify these reports at the time of publication.
Less than a week earlier, the Ukrainian Navy said it struck the Oryol Thermal Power Plant (TPP) with domestically produced Neptune cruise missiles. The Navy's announcement followed reports of fires at the facility.
Kyiv regularly targets military and industrial facilities in Russia and in Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine.
