On the morning of 7 March, a drone attacked the Severstal metallurgical plant in Cherepovets, Vologda Region, Radio Liberty reports.
The explosion occurred near the company's 4th blast furnace.
"This morning, a technological incident occurred at the blast furnace production facility. No one was injured. One of the units was taken out of service for the scheduled repair. The causes of the incident are being investigated," said Yevgeny Vinogradov, the plant's general director.
Later, Vologda Region governor Georgy Filimonov acknowledged that the explosion was linked to a UAV attack. Filimonov said there were no casualties.
According to the local news website Cherepovetskaya Istina, the drone attack caused one of the induction furnaces to explode.
The day before, drones of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine attacked the Mikhaylovsky mining and processing plant in Russia's Kursk Region, where a fire broke out in a fuel tank.