Russian warehouse reportedly storing Ukrainian drones raided by security forces

Security forces raided a warehouse in the city of Chelyabinsk, in the Urals, on Sunday evening, which reportedly stored drones to be used in a Ukrainian drone attack on Russian airfields, regional news channel 74.ru has reported.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that the Security Service of Ukraine had used a total of 117 drones to strike aircraft at military airfields across Russia in an unprecedented drone attack codenamed Operation Spider’s Web.

Telegram channel Mash said the warehouse owners had been detained. While the premises were now empty, the security forces took samples to check for explosives, the pro-government news website Ura.ru reported, citing sources in law enforcement.

VCHK-OGPU, a Telegram channel with ties to the security services, said those with links to the warehouse had been detained, though one tenant, a Russian citizen, had left the country via Kazakhstan, it said, adding that traces of the explosive RDX had been found at the warehouse.

Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Sunday evening that several people had been detained after aircraft were damaged in what it called Kyiv’s “terrorist attacks” on airfields in the Ivanovo and Ryazan regions of central Russia, the Murmansk region in the Arctic, the Irkutsk region in Siberia, and the Amur region in the Far East.

Meanwhile, Governor Igor Kobzev of the Irkutsk region promised to reward local residents who tried to take out drones there by throwing stones at them. “Yesterday, footage appeared on social media of concerned citizens trying to stop the drones … We will review their actions and make a decision on rewards,” he wrote on Telegram.

Citing sources within the Security Service of Ukraine, Ukrainian news outlet Ukrainska Pravda reported that the drones used in the operation were first covertly transported into Russia, followed by mobile wooden crates that were later mounted onto trucks. When the drones were launched, the crate roofs were remotely opened, allowing them to take off, the sources said.