Another said: ‘Enough of this war. It has come to every home now, it’s time to stop.’

The explosion, which took place hundreds of miles to the east of the combat zone in Ukraine, was recorded at 6am local time.

Saratov governor, Roman Busargin, issued a statement calling for residents to remain calm, local media reported.

‘I want to assure you that there were no emergencies in the residential areas of the city. There are no reasons for concern,’ he said.

‘No civilian infrastructure facility was damaged. Information about incidents at military facilities is being checked by law enforcement agencies.’

A resident said: ‘Everything in my house flew off the shelve. I thought the windows would fly out, horror. We live not far from the take-off zone.’

Another recalled seeing ‘a column of smoke and sparks’, adding: ‘The blast wave broke the latch on the window and flung it open. The explosion was a single one, strong.

‘There was no exact sound of something falling before the explosion. It looks like a fuel tank explosion to me.’

Ryazan is a base for Russian special forces troops, and an investigation into what happened is still ongoing.

Anton Gerashchenko, advisor to Ukraine’s minister of internal affairs, stressed that the airfield near Saratov is one of the most important bases for Russia’s airforces.

He added in a statement on Twitter this morning: ‘Some sources report that this morning planes based on Engels and Ryazan air fields were scheduled to bomb Ukrainian energy infrastructure yet again.’