At least 13 killed in Ukrainian drone strike deep inside Russia

A major Ukrainian drone strike has killed at least 13 people, including a child, and injured 75 others deep inside Russia, according to local authorities.

The attack in the Tatarstan region is the deadliest to hit the country in more than two years.

Ukraine’s armed forces said they targeted the Taneco oil refinery in Nizhnekamsk, a city more than 600 miles (1,000 kilometres) east of Moscow.

Their strategy in the conflict is to take the fight to Russian facilities that contribute revenue and logistics with new advanced technologies, drones and missiles.

Videos circulating on social media show a huge blaze raging and plumes of smoke rising from an area just outside the city, close to what appear to be the characteristic towers of an oil refinery.

The strike comes as both Russia and Ukraine intensify their aerial attacks against one another, while the frontlines of the war largely stagnate.

More drones and missiles are slipping through both sides’ fraying air defences, meaning that the civilian death toll has increased, and more critical infrastructure is being damaged.

June was the deadliest month for attacks on Ukrainian civilians since April 2022, as 1,396 were killed and 7,978 were injured, the UN said recently.

A child was among those killed in Nizhnekamsk, according to the Russian Investigative Committee, while 21 people have been hospitalised, the region’s press service said.

Another four people were killed over the last 24 hours in the Russian region of Belgorod, which borders Ukraine, the region’s acting governor Alexandr Shuvayev said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russia will ‘really feel’ operations targeting its oil refining:

A period of mourning has been declared in Tatarstan.

Nizhnekamsk mayor Radmir Belayev confirmed the strike and shared his condolences with the families of those killed, adding: “This is a tremendous pain for all of us.”

As Ukraine’s long-range drone technology has improved in recent months, it has demonstrated a newfound ability to frequently strike infrastructure deep inside Russia, like oil refineries, tankers, power substations and broader energy infrastructure as well as warehouses belonging to its largest online retailer.

Last month, attacks on Wildberries – the nation’s equivalent of Amazon – killed at least eight people in a single day, which, up until Monday’s strike on Nizhnekamsk, was the worst inside Russia.

Russia’s daily aerial assaults on Ukraine still vastly outnumber Kyiv’s retaliatory attacks. In just one night earlier this month, missiles killed at least 17 people and injured dozens of others in the Kyiv region.

Such attacks are made even more deadly by Kyiv’s shortage of ballistic-missile interceptors, as it desperately seeks help from allies to replenish its supply of US-made Patriot interceptor missiles.