A drone attack claimed by kyiv targeted an industrial site in Tatarstan on Tuesday and injured 13 people, said the authorities of this Russian republic located more than 1,000 kilometers from Ukraine. Ukraine regularly carries out drone attacks or sabotage against factories, railways or refineries on Russian territory, but it is rare for a strike to affect infrastructure so far from the border. A source within the Ukrainian defense sector, interviewed by AFP, affirmed that it
“was an operation of the GUR”
, Ukrainian military intelligence, which has claimed responsibility for multiple attacks of this type in the past. type on Russian soil.
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“An aerial drone attack was carried out this morning against factories in Tatarstan located in Yelabuga and Nizhnekamsk
,” the press service of the leader of this republic in central Russia, Rustam Minnikhanov, indicated on Telegram. The attack
"did not cause serious damage, the technological process of the companies was not disrupted"
, assured the press release, without specifying which factories were targeted.
The Ministry of Health of Tatarstan, however, reported 13 people injured by the explosion caused by the drone who were
“students, including two minors”
.
“Eight people were hospitalized for injuries of light or medium severity, their lives are not threatened
,” he added on Telegram.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov assured him that the Russian army
“is striving to minimize and then completely eliminate the threat”
of Ukrainian strikes in Russia. It was the Alabouga special economic zone (SEZ), located around ten kilometers from the city of Yelabuga, which was targeted around 02:45 GMT on Tuesday, according to the SEZ press service.
“Company assembling drones”
This area has factories and companies, specializing in the production of chemicals, mechanics and metal processing. According to the source within the Ukrainian defense sector interviewed by AFP, the strike targeted a drone assembly site.
“It was a GUR operation, an attack by Ukrainian drones on a company assembling Shahed drones (explosives, editor’s note). Significant damage was inflicted on the site
,” said this source, without specifying whether the attack was launched from Russian or Ukrainian territory. The other targeted site, in Nizhnekamsk, is a major oil refinery. According to local authorities, the drone was neutralized by an electronic jamming system and its fall caused no injuries or damage.
Drone attacks targeting Russian energy sites have increased in recent months, causing major fires, particularly in refineries. kyiv had promised to bring the fighting to Russian soil in retaliation for the numerous bombings of its territory. Russia intensified its strikes on Ukrainian energy networks in the spring, leading to electricity cuts and rationing which affected hundreds of thousands of civilians.