Ukrainian Drone Strikes Russian Security Building in Kursk: Report

Ukrainian forces marked Sunday morning with a successful attack on a Russian security building, according to Ukrainska Pravda.

Per the Ukrainian outlet's report, a successful drone strike was carried out against a building used by Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) in the city of Kursk, situated roughly 220 kilometers or approximately 137 miles north of Kharkiv, Ukraine. The report also noted that the operation was carried out by "Ukrainian military intelligence."

The scale of the damage done to the building and the potential number of casualties are not currently known. Roman Starovoit, regional governor of the Kursk Oblast, claimed that "the roof was slightly damaged" by the strike, clashing with claims from Ukrainian intelligence that the strike had been a direct hit.

"In Kursk, a Ukrainian drone attacked an administrative building in the Central District," the governor's statement read. "The roof was slightly damaged. Emergency services officers went to the scene."

Newsweek reached out to Russian officials via email for comment.

In addition to its close proximity to Russia's border with Ukraine, Kursk has been a target of interest due to the presence of a nearby nuclear plant. Strikes against the city and the surrounding region have become more common, especially as Ukrainian forces have ramped up their long-range strikes against Moscow in their ongoing counteroffensive.

On September 1, Starovoit took to his official Telegram account to report that a suspected Ukrainian drone had carried out a "morning UAV raid" in the town of Kurchatov, located 25 miles west of Kursk and home to the region's nuclear plant.

"One drone hit a non-residential building [it] was confirmed, the façade was slightly damaged," he wrote, clarifying earlier reports that two drones had been involved in the incident. "There were no casualties. The fall of the second UAV was not confirmed—the flight of the first UAV was mistaken for another one."

Despite its proximity to the nuclear plant, the specific target of the strike remains unclear.

Earlier, in August, Ukraine's Armed Forces claimed in a statement that Russia was planning to carry out a "false flag" attack against its own nuclear plant in Kursk, citing information from the country's National Resistance Center based on purportedly leaked Kremlin documents.

"We are live with reports that Ukraine's Center for National Resistance has obtained documents that indicate Russia plans a false flag attack on the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant," Ukraine Armed Forces spokesperson Sarah Ashton-Cirillo said. "In addition, it is only planning to evacuate a certain number of the residents of Kursk—the Kremlin is picking and choosing who to take out, prior to its own attack on the nuclear power plant."

These allegations could not be independently verified by Newsweek and seemingly no attack has yet been carried out against the Kursk plant.