Three people were injured and three residential buildings damaged when a <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/tags/ukraine/" target="_blank">Ukraine</a>-operated <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/tags/drones" target="_blank">drone</a> caused an explosion in the centre of a <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/tags/russia" target="_blank">Russian</a> town on Sunday, Tass news agency reported. Ukraine has not responded to the claims, although it has previously denied Russian assertions that its drones have flown into Russian territory and caused damage to civilian infrastructure. "A Ukrainian Tu-141 Strizh UAV was the cause of an explosion in the town of Kireyevsk, Tula region," Tass quoted a law-enforcement source as saying. "The drone was packed with explosives." The blast occurred in the centre of Kireyevsk,, 220km south of Moscow. None of those hurt in the explosion are believed to have suffered life-threatening injuries, Russian news agencies reported. The blast, which occurred about 3.20pm, caused a large crater in the heart of Kireyevsk, a local emergency services representative told Tass. <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/tags/social-media/" target="_blank">Social media</a> videos and pictures showed a muddy crater near a building with its roof and walls heavily damaged. Shards of glass from broken windows were spread across the stairwell of a nearby apartment block. Reuters could not immediately verify the images. Russia has previously reported drone attacks in several towns and cities, some of them hundreds of kilometres from its border with Ukraine. Three Russian air force personnel died on December 26 when a drone believed to be Ukrainian was shot down at the main base for Russia's strategic bombers near the city of Saratov, after flying hundreds of kilometres through Russian airspace.