Ukraine presses on with offensive as Russia reports airfield fire

Ukraine pressed on with a major cross-border incursion into Russia, where state media and local officials on Friday reported a fire at a military airfield and "massive" drone attacks hundreds of kilometers from the border.

The Ukrainian offensive in the Kursk region over the past few days appears to be the most significant attack on Russian soil since the war in Ukraine began in 2022. It involved around 1,000 troops and more than two dozen armoured vehicles and tanks, according to the Russian army.

Kiev has not officially taken responsibility for the operation, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his evening address on Thursday that Russia needed to "feel" the consequences of its invasion.

"Russia brought the war to our land and should feel what it has done," Zelensky said, without directly referring to the offensive.

Early Friday, official Russian news agencies TASS and RIA Novosti reported a fire at a military airfield in the neighbouring Lipetsk region citing the local emergencies ministry directorate, though neither outlet offered a cause.

The reports came just hours after regional governor Igor Artamonov announced on Telegram at around 3:00 am (0000 GMT) that Lipetsk had "been subjected to a massive UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) attack", later adding a local power facility was damaged.

In a subsequent message, Artamonov urged residents to ignore calls on social media to leave Lipetsk — saying they were "spread by the enemy in order to sow panic" — only to reverse course less than an hour later.

"To eliminate the consequences of the detonation of explosive objects, a state of emergency is introduced in Lipetsk municipal district," he said in a post at around 4:00 am, listing evacuation orders for...