This is the dramatic moment a Ukrainian drone explodes after flying towards a Russian special forces base more than 700 miles from the front line.
Several drones reportedly attacked the OMON police unit in Grozny and a base from where troops are sent to fight against Ukraine.
Loud explosions were reported in the city, which is the capital of Chechnya, a region headed by warlord Putin Ramzan Kadyrov, who has sent tens of thousands of troops to the war.
Gunshots were heard in an attempt to shoot down the pilotless plane loaded with explosives, but air defenses against the slowly advancing drones appeared to be lacking.
It is the third attack in the city in just 11 days.
The extent of the damage or the number of victims were not immediately known.
It came shortly after Vladimir Putin, 72, awarded Kadyrov, 48, an honor “For Services to the Fatherland” in an unannounced but secretly filmed ceremony in the Kremlin, in which other top loyalist officials The dictator was also given gongs.
Kadyrov, who holds the rank of colonel general in the Russian national guard, had demanded better air defense protection for his capital.
Several drones reportedly attacked the OMON police unit in Grozny and a base from where troops are sent to fight against Ukraine.
Shots were heard in the attempt to shoot down the pilotless plane loaded with explosives
The aircraft-type drone burst into flames after impacting the facility.
The incident took place in Grozny, more than 700 miles from the front line.
Vladimir Putin, 72, right, had awarded Ramzan Kadyrov, 48, left, the “For Services to the Fatherland” honor in an unannounced but secretly filmed ceremony in the Kremlin.
Kadyrov has been widely sanctioned by the West for human rights abuses, as well as his support for Putin during the war.
He previously threatened to place Ukrainian prisoners of war on the roofs of strategic buildings to discourage attacks by Volodymyr Zelensky’s forces.
A new investigation by independent outlet Proekt found that Kadyrov has tripled the size of what amounts to his own private army.
Since the start of the war, no less than nine new paramilitary units have been created.
No other regional leader in Russia is allowed to maintain his own private army.
During the 2023 coup against the Kremlin regime attempted by Wagner’s once-loyal boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, Kadyrov’s forces, known as ‘Kadyrovtsy’, mobilized to back Putin.
There have been claims that in the event of Putin’s death, or political demise, Kadyrov could try to use his forces in a bid to declare landlocked Chechnya an independent state.
The thuggish Chechen ruler, also known as The Don, has filled Grozny’s government with his extended family and other loyalists.
Kadyrov, a father of 15 children from at least three polygamous wives, was reported to be seriously ill earlier this year when his weight skyrocketed, but lately he appears to be in better health.
The regional president this weekend demanded the closure of beauty salons in Chechnya because their advertisements contained allegedly unacceptable images of female bodies.
“Beauty salons publish photographs in which female models show parts of the body that should not be shown,” he said.