A Ukrainian drone strike on Russia’s central Tatarstan region has killed at least 12 people and injured 39 others, authorities said Monday, marking one of the deadliest single Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory since the war began.
The attack targeted the city of Nizhnekamsk, located more than 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) from Ukraine and home to major energy and industrial facilities.
“According to the latest information, 12 people have been killed and 39 wounded as a result of the drone attack,” the regional press service said in a statement.
Unverified footage circulated on social media appeared to show a huge plume of black smoke rising from the area of an oil facility near Nizhnekamsk. Tatarstan authorities had earlier described the incident as a “massive” Ukrainian drone attack.
The region has become a frequent target of Ukrainian long-range strikes because of its importance to Russia’s energy industry, including major oil refineries and petrochemical facilities.
The latest attack comes amid a significant escalation in long-range strikes by both Russia and Ukraine this year. The United Nations has warned that the increase in aerial attacks has contributed to a rise in civilian casualties.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said its air-defence forces had intercepted and destroyed 456 Ukrainian drones overnight, although Moscow does not typically disclose how many drones were able to reach their intended targets.
Ukraine, meanwhile, reported that Russia launched 126 drones during an overnight attack on Ukrainian territory.
Deadly Russian Strike in Kharkiv
The violence also continued along the frontline in Ukraine.
A Russian artillery barrage on the village of Bugaivka in the northeastern Kharkiv region killed five people, according to the regional prosecutor’s office.
“On August 10, Russian forces carried out a massive artillery strike on the residential area of the village of Bugaivka,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement posted on Telegram.
Several homes were reportedly destroyed in the attack, with authorities releasing an image showing a house reduced to rubble.
Elsewhere, a woman was killed in a Ukrainian attack in Russia’s border region of Belgorod, according to Russian officials.
In Ukraine’s frontline Kherson region, a man was also killed when a Russian drone struck a taxi, local authorities said.
The latest casualties underscore the growing reach and intensity of the conflict, with both sides increasingly using drones and long-range weapons to strike targets far from the immediate battlefield.
The war, which has lasted more than four years, has seen a steady expansion in the use of unmanned aerial systems, with attacks increasingly affecting civilians and critical infrastructure well beyond the front lines.
