At least 12 people were killed in a strike by a Ukrainian drone on the central Russian region of Tatarstan. According to reports, this is one of Kyiv’s most deadly single attacks of the more than four-year war. “According to the latest information, 12 people have been killed and 39 wounded as a result of the drone attack,” on the city of Nizhnekamsk, the regional press service said in a statement. Unverified footage on social media showed a large black smoke cloud billowing over an oil facility near the industrial city of Nizhnekamsk in Russia.
According to reports, the region is over 1,000 kilometres from the Ukrainian border, is rich in energy resources, and has many major oil refineries that Kyiv has been targeting in retaliatory strikes.
Escalation of long-range strikes and rising civilian casualties
According to the United Nations, both countries have increased their long-range attacks this year, resulting in a spike in civilian deaths.
Russian artillery strike killed five people in a village in the northeastern Kharkiv region near the front line in Ukraine, a local Ukrainian official said.
“On August 10, Russian forces carried out a massive artillery strike on the residential area of the village of Bugaivka in the Chuguiv district. Various houses were destroyed as a result of the enemy attack. Five people were killed,” the regional prosecutor’s office said in a statement on Telegram.
Zelenskyy wants to make Patriot ammunition in Ukraine
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has for months lobbied other countries, especially the US, to send Ukraine more Patriot systems made scarcer by the Iran war, arguing they are crucial for defending civilians.
Failing that, Zelenskyy wants to make Patriot ammunition in Ukraine or get approval from Elon Musk to use his Starlink satellite communications system to guide strikes inside Russia that can hit its missile launchers.
Meanwhile, Kyiv has kept up long-range drone strikes against Russian energy infrastructure, as well as the country’s largest online retailer, Wildberries, and other targets deep inside Russia, sparking a fuel crisis.
Russia’s defence ministry on Sunday claimed its overnight strikes hit drone warehouses in the Kharkiv region, as well as fuel depots and stores of other materiel belonging to Ukraine’s armed forces at the port of Odesa.
With AP Inputs
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