Updated with new casualty toll.
A series of explosions and suspected drone strikes across multiple Russian regions overnight left at least 12 people dead and several others injured, officials and local media reported Thursday.
Chelyabinsk region Governor Alexei Teksler said an explosion ripped through a factory in the town of Kopeysk on Wednesday night. By Thursday evening, he confirmed that 12 people had been killed and that five more were in critical condition.
The governor stressed that the blasts were not the result of drone strikes.
By noon Friday, Teksler said 29 people were injured, five of them hospitalized in critical condition, while 11 people remained unaccounted for.
Hundreds of residents gathered at a central square in Kopeysk to pay tribute to the victims and demanded news about the missing workers, according to independent local media. They forced the head of a local labor union to read out the names of the 12 employees whose deaths have been confirmed.
Governor Teksler was later seen laying flowers at a makeshift memorial, while Plastmass CEO Alexander Balashov told residents, “It’s hard to understand” how the tragedy occurred.
“Our main task now is to fulfill the state defense order, on which our country’s future depends. A deep bow to those who lost their lives,” he was quoted as saying by the local outlet 74.ru.
Independent media identified the plant as the Plastmass plastics maker, which manufactures artillery ammunition for the Russian military, and is subject to Western sanctions.
Another late-night explosion reportedly occurred in the southern city of Stavropol, near a military base. Media reports said a baby stroller packed with explosives was left near a bus stop.
A woman was injured by shrapnel, while a man was detained and charged with terrorism, according to the Kommersant business newspaper.
Officials in the Bryansk and Belgorod regions neighboring Ukraine reported two civilian deaths from Ukrainian drones striking vehicles.
Meanwhile, in the Ryazan region, Governor Pavel Malkov said debris from Ukrainian drones caused a fire at an industrial facility. Independent outlet Astra, citing residents, reported that the Ryazan oil refinery was hit. No casualties were reported.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its air defense systems shot down or intercepted 139 Ukrainian drones overnight.
Those included 56 drones over the Belgorod region, 22 drones over the Bryansk region and 14 over the Ryazan region.
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