At least 13 people have been killed in a Ukrainian drone strike on the Russian republic of Tatarstan, local officials have said.
Officials from the Tatarstan regional government confirmed that one child was among those killed, and reported that 75 more people were injured as drones hit Nizhnekamsk, more than 1,100 kilometers (680 miles) from the Ukrainian border. Ukraine’s Armed Forces said the city’s Tanevo oil refinery had been hit.
It is one of the deadliest single attacks on Russia since the start of Moscow’s full-scale war in Ukraine in 2022.
Kyiv has recently stepped up its long-range strikes on facilities it says contribute revenue and logistics to Russia’s war on Ukraine.
The strike on Nizhnekamsk lasted several hours overnight and into the morning, according to local sources.
Verified images on social media show large plumes of smoke and flames rising into the sky during the day, with air raid sirens howling in the background.
The Uzbek consulate in Tatarstan stated that seven of the victims were citizens of Uzbekistan.
Russian news agency RIA reported that most victims were staying in a hostel at the time of the attack. Russia’s Investigative Committee stated that “civilian individuals who were not involved in any military operations were present” at the site of the drone strike.
Wired Terra has not independently verified this information. The details provided by officials and state agencies are currently being reviewed by our editorial team. Due to restrictions on independent reporting in Russia and limited access to the affected area, obtaining direct confirmation from eyewitnesses or neutral sources is challenging. Moscow stated that “all those involved in the attacks” would “face inevitable and severe punishment.”
Oil refineries in Nizhnekamsk had already been hit once – on 12 June.
“The facilities Ukraine targets are used to carry out attacks against Ukraine, manufacture weapons, support Russia’s war effort,” said Andriy Kovalenko, head of Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation.
The head of Tatarstan, Rustam Minnikhanov, confirmed the strike and shared his condolences with the families of the deceased, while Nizhnekamsk Mayor Radmir Belayev said the deaths had been a “a tremendous pain for all of us”.
Ukraine’s Kovalenko said “every civilian death in Russia is on [President Vladimir] Putin” and that “Russians should direct their grievances at Putin and at the decisions made within their own country”.
“Without Putin, there would have been no aggression. Without the aggression, these people would still be alive,” he added.
More than 450 Ukrainian drones were shot down by the Russian air defenses overnight across Russia, Moscow said.
Elsewhere in Russia, fires broke out when an industrial facility in Siberia’s Tyumen region was hit by several falling drones, according to local authorities.
Kyiv has become increasingly successful at carrying out long-range strikes on Russia, often targeting warehouses or energy infrastructure, with civilian casualties mounting. According to recent reports, at least 34 civilians have been killed and more than 120 injured in cross-border drone and missile attacks targeting Russian territory since January. In the most recent months, strikes on refineries and logistics hubs have led to casualties both among workers and residents in nearby areas, underlining the growing risks faced by civilians far from the frontlines.
Moscow, meanwhile, continues to target Ukraine with regular large-scale aerial attacks on cities and residential centres. Last week, a combined drone and missile strike on Kyiv killed 21 people.