AP
Kyiv
Ukraine attacked the petroleum hub of Nizhnekamsk in central Russia’s Tatarstan region on Monday, killing 13 people and injuring 78 others, local authorities said, in one of the deadliest attacks in the country in the 4-year-old war.
The Ukrainian military said it hit an oil refinery in Nizhnekamsk, which is about 1,200 kilometres (750 miles) east of the Ukrainian border and has a population of about 240,000.
Russian officials didn’t say what the drones targeted, but the city is home to two refineries and a petrochemical plant. Ukraine has targeted Russian oil facilities with long-range drones almost daily in recent months. The campaign has caused fuel shortages in Russia, eaten into its refining capacity and unsettled the population.
Previous Ukrainian attacks on Russian soil with high death tolls have come in the border region of Belgorod. In December 2023, Ukrainian shelling of the region’s capital, also called Belgorod, killed 25 people and wounded over 100, local officials said. Five months later, a Belgorod apartment building partially collapsed after shelling, killing at least 13, according to Russian authorities.
Also on Monday, several Ukrainian drones sparked a fire at an industrial facility in the Tyumen region of western Siberia, said Gov. Alexander Moor, without offering any details.
Ukraine’s General Staff said its forces damaged part of a petrochemical complex in Tobolsk, in the Tyumen region. The plant produces rocket fuel components, aviation fuel, composite materials for drones and high-octane gasoline, it said in a Telegram post.
Last month, Ukrainian drones hit a refinery in Tyumen, more than 2,400 kilometres (about 1,500 miles) east of the border with Ukraine.
