A drone slammed into a building and campus in Chechnya known as the Russian Special Forces University in the early morning hours of Tuesday, regional governor Ramzan Kadyrov has confirmed.

“At 6:30 this morning, the roof of an empty building on the territory of the Russian Special Forces University caught fire in Gudermes as a result of an unmanned aerial attack,” Kadyrov said. The town which hosts the military school lies just over 20 miles east of the capital Grozny.

Via social media/X

“No one was killed or injured. The fire has been extinguished,” Kadyrov detailed in the statement posted to Telegram. He claimed the attack didn’t lead to significant disruptions at the training academy. However, that seems doubtful given the photographs showing the extent of fires and damage to the roof in the aftermath. Images suggest more than one UAV may have hit.

The institution is known for being the only private campus for training Russian military special operators. But tens of thousands have been sent through its elite training program.

Politico has detailed that the school heavily contributes to training special operations troops deployed in Ukraine:

“The school’s website says it instructs both soldiers and civilians in a variety of combat tactics, including shooting, artillery and parachute landing. More than 47,000 troops deployed to the front line in Ukraine have been trained there, according to the Kremlin.

The school also reportedly has a combat drone production facility attached to it. This marks the first such major drone attack on this specific region since the Ukraine war began.

The Amsterdam-based Moscow Times has noted it’s possible the drone was not sent from Ukraine, given the great distance of the Caucasus from the front lines. 

“He did not say whether he believed the drone had been launched from Ukraine, noting only that police were investigating the incident,” the report said in reference to Gov. Kadyrov’s statement. “Chechnya is located around 600 kilometers (373 miles) southeast of the border with Ukraine.”

However, there has been an emerging reporting consensus that this was the result of a Ukrainian attack, and not the result of recent tensions among rival factions on the Russian southern Caucasus republics: 

Ukraine has frequently struck Russia with drones in the course of the war, but Tuesday’s attack appeared to be the first against Chechnya. There was no immediate comment from Kyiv.

“They’ve bitten us – we will destroy them,” [Chechen leader] Kadyrov told reporters in a video published by Russian state news agency RIA. “In the very near future we’ll show them the kind of vengeance they’ve never even dreamt of,” he said.

This is what “Putin’s Russian Special Forces University” looks like in Chechnya’s Gudermes after a UAV attack.

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov is not happy….@nexta_tv pic.twitter.com/u51OBqOfci

— WORLD AT WAR (@World_At_War_6) October 29, 2024

Chechen troops have from the start of the war been very active in Ukraine, including specialized units deployed, which has outraged Kiev. Kadyrov in particular has been a regional leader who has been very vocal in supporting Putin’s decision to go to war.