A building belonging to Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) in the Chechen Republic reportedly burned down after a drone attack early Tuesday, Dec. 2.
Russian Telegram channel Astra, citing local residents, said the drones struck the Achkhoy-Martan district, hitting a building belonging to the FSB.
“The FSB building burned down as a result of a drone attack in Chechnya overnight,” the report said.
The Ukrainian Telegram channel Exilenova+ published a video that it says shows drones attacking Gudermes, a town in Russia’s Chechen Republic.
The outlet said the drones targeted the location of the Akhmat Regiment – a unit of Russia’s National Guard made up largely of Chechen forces and directly subordinated to Chechnya’s leader, Ramzan Kadyrov.
On Tuesday morning, Russia’s Ministry of Defense claimed that air defenses downed 45 drones, including four over Chechnya.
Russian Aviation Major General Sergei Lipovoy suggested in comments to the NEWS.ru outlet that Ukrainian drones could have entered Chechnya from Kazakhstan.
“Both Chechnya and Dagestan are close to Kazakhstan. [Unmanned aerial vehicles] UAVs could have been launched from vehicles transporting them,” he said.
“The issue is that our air defense systems are usually oriented westward, but in this case the drones came from the east – and that’s the element of surprise the Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU) are relying on,” he added.
Ukraine has not commented on the attack.
This was not the first drone strike on Chechnya. On Oct. 29, 2024, Kadyrov reported a drone attack on the Special Forces University in Gudermes.
On Dec. 4, 2024, a drone struck the premises of the Kadyrov Patrol and Guard Police Regiment in Grozny. Media later reported that the target was Barracks No. 6, where 13 detained Chechens were extrajudicially murdered in January 2017.
Early in the morning of Dec. 12, 2024, drones hit the 2nd Regiment of the Chechen Ministry of Internal Affairs, wounding four guards, according to Kadyrov.
Another attack followed on Dec. 15 when explosions hit Grozny, with Russian Telegram channels blaming Ukrainian drones. The NIYSO channel reported at least five blasts targeting a riot police base, interior ministry forces, and a military site.
Moscow also blamed Ukrainian drones when Chechen forces launched an air-defense missile at an Azeri civilian airliner over Grozny in December 2024, triggering a months-long diplomatic standoff between Baku and Moscow until late 2025, when the two countries’ leaders publicly reconciled.