Ukrainian drone strike kills 13 in Russia’s Tatarstan, including a child
At least 13 people, including a child, were killed and dozens more wounded when Ukrainian drones struck the Russian city of Nizhnekamsk in the Tatarstan
At least 13 people, including a child, were killed and dozens more wounded when Ukrainian drones struck the Russian city of Nizhnekamsk in the Tatarstan region on Monday, local officials said. Ukraine said its military hit Tatneft’s TANECO oil refinery in the same area, a long-range attack that reached deep inside Russia.
The strike landed about 800 kilometres east of Moscow, far from the front line. Russian regional authorities said civilian and industrial sites were hit, with one drone damaging a hostel and several of the dead identified as citizens of Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. The Uzbek consulate in Kazan said seven Uzbek nationals were among the victims.
Deadly hit on an oil hub
Local authorities put the wounded toll at 39 and later 78, underscoring the confusion that often follows major strikes. The head of Tatarstan, Rustam Minnikhanov, called the attack “barbaric” and declared a period of mourning in the region. Nizhnekamsk’s mayor said Monday would be treated as a day of mourning.
Ukraine’s military said the target was the TANECO refinery, part of a petroleum hub in a city of about 240,000 people that also hosts other refining and petrochemical facilities. Russian state media and officials said investigators opened a criminal case into what they described as a terrorist attack. Moscow said residential areas were struck as well.
Central Asian workers caught in the blast
The nationalities of some of the dead point to a wider reality behind the war. Millions of migrant workers from Central Asia live and work in Russia, especially in construction, services and industrial jobs, and remittances remain a key part of economies such as Uzbekistan’s. The Uzbek government has kept a delicate balance since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, preserving ties with Moscow while voicing support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity.
The attack is among the deadliest inside Russia in more than four years of war and comes as Kyiv has repeatedly used long-range drones against Russian energy infrastructure in recent months. Those strikes have rattled fuel supplies and forced Moscow to divert resources to air defences. In Tatarstan, the wreckage was still being assessed. Russian officials said a child was among the dead. They also said a criminal probe was under way.
