Russia says 101 drones downed overnight, explosions reported at ammunition depots.

Editor’s note: This news story is being updated as more details on the attack emerge.
The Russian Defense Ministry claimed on Sept. 21 that its forces shot down and intercepted 101 Ukrainian drones overnight, while explosions were reported at ammunition depots in Krasnodar Krai and Tver Oblast.
A drone strike in the Tikhoretsk district of Russia’s Krasnodar Krai caused detonations of “explosive objects” at an unspecified facility, Veniamin Kondratyev, the regional governor, reported on Sept. 21.
The Tikhoretsk district houses a major ammunition depot that has expanded over the last year to accommodate munitions shipments from North Korea, according to the Washington Post.
Russian air defense units intercepted two drones over the Tikhoretsk district on Sept. 21, Kondratyev said. “The falling debris of one of them caused a fire that spread to explosive objects. A detonation began.”
Local residents are being evacuated from the area near the blast, Kondratyev said. No casualties have been reported.
While Kondratyev did not specify where the explosions occurred, the Russian Telegram news channel Astra reported that the Tikhoretsk ammunition depot was hit in the attack.
Hours after the attack, Andrii Kovalenko, the head of Ukraine’s state-run Center for Countering Disinformation, wrote that a depot was “demilitarized” in Russia’s Tikhoretsk district and published videos allegedly showing the aftermath of the strike.
North Korea-made KN23 missiles, artillery shells, and ammunition for Smerch rocket launchers were stored in the Tikhoretsk depot, Kovalenko added.
According to Astra, an ammunition depot in the village of Oktyabrsky in Tver Oblast was also hit overnight. It it located near a weapons depot in Toropets, one of Russia’s largest arsenals, that was attacked by Ukrainian drones on Sept. 18.
The local government in Tver Oblast reported that an unspecified number of drones were shot down in the region but did not disclose any details on the consequences of the attack.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, 53 drones were intercepted over Bryansk Oblast, 18 over Krasnodar Krai, 16 over the Azov Sea, 5 over Kaluga Oblast, and 9 over Kursk and Smolensk oblasts and Russian-occupied Crimea.
The Kyiv Independent could not verify the claims. Ukraine’s military has not commented on the attack.