A drone strike early Tuesday morning damaged a special forces university in Chechnya’s Gudermes region, marking the first such incident in the area since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov.
“At 6:30 a.m., an unmanned aerial attack set the roof of an empty building within the Russian Special Forces University on fire,” Kadyrov said, referring to Gudermes, a town about 36 kilometers (22 miles) east of Chechnya’s capital, Grozny.
Photos circulated on social media showing flames and dark smoke rising from what appeared to be the main campus roof. Kadyrov reported on Telegram that there were no casualties, and the fire had been extinguished without disrupting university operations.
He did not specify if the drone was suspected to be from Ukraine, only mentioning that local authorities were investigating. Chechnya is located roughly 600 kilometers (373 miles) southeast of the Ukraine border.
The Russian Special Forces University, Russia’s only private institution training special unit personnel, expanded its facilities after Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine to include a center training soldiers for combat, and recently began producing drones. In August, President Vladimir Putin visited the university, which bears his name.
