Moscow said Thursday that it had repelled a missile attack on the Volgograd region in the south of the country, but falling debris sparked a fire at a military facility, prompting authorities to evacuate a nearby village. Meanwhile, Russia and Ukraine are exchanging accusations of launching strikes to undermine the ongoing negotiations to end the war that has been ongoing between them for nearly four years.

Published on: 02/12/2026 - 14:07 Last updated: 02/12/2026 - 15:36

“Air defense units of the Russian Ministry of Defense repelled a missile attack on the Volgograd region,” Andrei Bocharov, the regional governor of the Volgograd region in southern Russia, reported on the Telegram app on Thursday.

He added, "Falling debris caused a fire to break out on the grounds of a facility belonging to the Ministry of Defense near the village of Cotluban," without giving further details about the facility.

He added, "To ensure the safety of civilians from the risk of explosions during the process of putting out the fire, the evacuation of the neighboring village of Cotluban was announced and is being implemented," noting that there were no casualties.

Evacuation of university students

In addition, in the northern Russian region of Tambov, the governor said that university students had been evacuated to safer places after a Ukrainian drone strike caused a fire.

"The fire has now been extinguished. There were no casualties," Yevgeny Pervishov added.

Russia and Ukraine are accusing each other of launching strikes to undermine the ongoing negotiations to end the war that has been going on between them for nearly four years.

Under pressure from the United States, the two sides have begun peace talks, but their positions appear to still be far apart, with Moscow demanding that Ukraine make political and territorial concessions that Kiev considers a surrender.

It is noteworthy that Russia launched its military attack on Ukraine in February 2022, and it now controls about a fifth of the country, including the Crimean Peninsula, which it annexed in 2014.

France 24/AFP

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