A legion of Russian volunteers fighting for Ukraine has destroyed an arms depot in a Russian border town, the group has said on social media.
The footage, posted by the Freedom of Russia Legion online, shows smoke rising from a warehouse in Tetkino in Russia's Kursk Oblast, next to its border with Ukraine.
A small explosion in the depot then sends dust flying, before a fire breaks out in the building's rafters - seconds later, ammunition apparently stored in the depot explodes, hollowing out the structure as plumes of black smoke billow out.
Posting on social media, the group said they had "destroyed Putin's army ammunition depot in Tetkino" and there was "more to come".
The strikes come as Putin weighs up the feasibility of establishing a 'buffer zone' in Ukraine
Reuters/X
The depot's destruction is just the latest flare-up in a continued campaign of attacks by Ukrainian or Ukraine-backed saboteur groups in Russia.
It comes as Russia's Defence Ministry announced it had carried out pre-emptive strikes against two groups of saboteurs before they'd crossed into Russian territory - both of which were destroyed.
The Freedom of Russia Legion, responsible for the attack, forms part of a fringe group of anti-Russian Russians aligned against the Putin regime.
It says it is "waging an armed struggle against the dictatorship of Putin and his entourage, who are depriving Russia of its future".
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The Freedom of Russia Legion is one of several pro-Ukraine groups active in Russia, and fights under the 'white-blue-white' flag
Freedom of Russia Legion
The group fights under the 'white-blue-white' flag - Russia's flag, with its red stripe removed; a choice one of the flag's designers said was due to Russia's red stripe's association "not just with blood, but with its military power and authoritarian strength".
On Friday, as Russia's three-day election began, Putin was visibly irate as he addressed Russia's security council about the spillover of the Ukraine war into Russian territory.
He said: "In order to disrupt the voting process and intimidate people, at least in the border areas, the Kyiv regime... is trying to carry out a number of criminal actions, striking at civilian settlements in Russia - these enemy strikes shall not remain unpunished."
And the ongoing shelling from Ukraine has forced Russia's hand - the border city of Belgorod and surrounding areas will see 9,000 of their children evacuated, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said today.
Evacuations may not be the only measures Russia takes to stymie conflict on its own land; Putin raised the possibility of setting up a buffer zone in Ukraine - a move the Kremlin said would be the only way to protect Russia from Ukrainian attacks.
The premier said any buffer zone may have to be large enough to stop what he said were foreign-made weapons striking Russian territory.
Mykhailo Podolyak, an aide to Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, said: "This is... a direct manifest statement that the war will only escalate.
"All this is direct evidence that the Russian Federation is not ready to live in modern social and political relations, taking into account the absolute sovereign rights of other countries."
