Mediazona's source said that Mikhail Ryumin was unaware that his vehicle was carrying Ukrainian drones hidden beneath the roofs of the frame house structures.

In June, Ukraine hit several Russian strategic sites, including the Belaya military base deep in eastern Siberia, with drones. Kyiv’s forces also targeted the Borysoglebsk base in 2024.

In one recent attack, on May 20, a Russian missile killed six servicemen and wounded at least 10 others at a Ukrainian military shooting range. On June 22, three Ukrainian soldiers were killed and around a dozen wounded after a Russian missile struck a training ground for a mechanised brigade.

President Donald Trump has swiftly reversed a Pentagon-ordered pause on weapons shipments to Ukraine, restoring the flow of 155 mm artillery shells and GMLRS precision rockets critical to Kyiv’s defence.

Russia killed two people in an airstrike on the central Ukrainian city of Poltava on Thursday and damaged a military draft office there in what Kyiv said was a concerted campaign to disrupt recruitment for its war effort.