Key facts
- A Ukrainian drone strike killed at least 12 people and wounded 39 in Tatarstan, Russia.
- The targeted city of Nizhnekamsk is an important oil refining hub.
- Russian strikes in Ukraine's Kharkiv region killed five people.
- Ukraine has been targeting Russian oil facilities with long-range drones.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated these strikes are a response to Russian aggression.
Kyiv has carried out one of its deadliest single attacks of the war, killing at least 12 people and wounding 39 in Tatarstan, a region deep inside Russia known for its oil refineries. The strike on the city of Nizhnekamsk, located over 1,000 kilometers from the Ukrainian border, is part of Ukraine's ongoing campaign to target Russia's energy infrastructure.
Footage circulating on social media depicted a large plume of black smoke rising from an oil facility near Nizhnekamsk. Both Ukraine and Russia have escalated their long-range attacks this year, leading to an increase in civilian casualties, according to the United Nations.
In parallel, Russian forces conducted an artillery strike on the village of Bugaivka in Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region, destroying homes and killing five people. Russia's defence ministry claimed to have intercepted 456 Ukrainian drones overnight, though it did not specify how many reached their targets. Ukraine's air force reported that Russia launched 126 drones during the same period. Additional casualties were reported, with a woman killed in a Ukrainian attack on Russia's Belgorod region and a man killed in a Russian drone strike on a taxi in Ukraine's Kherson region.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has framed these strikes as justified responses to Russia's ongoing invasion, stating that Russia's war will be increasingly felt within its own borders until it ends.