Sirens sound air raid alert in Oryol region twice in one day

Emergencies Ministry reports no incidents

Sirens signaling a missile attack threat sounded twice in the Oryol region on the same day, the emergencies ministry has reported, with no incidents caused by the warnings.

The first siren sounded at 2:34am local time, and the second at 4:18am, the local emergencies ministry said. Only 2 hours passed between the 2 alerts, which follow a recent increase in missile threat warnings in other regions of Russia.

Russia’s southern border regions have been on high alert ever since the beginning of military action in Ukraine. In recent weeks, missile warnings have also sounded in the Kursk, Belgorod and Voronezh regions, all of which border Ukraine.

The sounding of sirens is an automated process, triggered when data is received about threats to a given territory. Following the warning, residents have between 3 to 5 minutes to seek shelter, and local authorities use loudspeakers, mobile phone broadcasts and social media to inform the population.

The sudden increase in the frequency of missile threat siren alerts in Russian regions bordering Ukraine has been explained by the fact that many of the Russian air defence systems have been redeployed to Ukraine to participate in military action there, thereby weakening air defence in border regions.