A massive Ukrainian drone strike on the central Russian region of Tatarstan killed at least 12 people in one of Kiev'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 on Monday.
More than 1,000 kilometres from the Ukrainian border, the region is rich in energy resources and has many major oil refineries that Kiev has been targeting in retaliatory strikes.
Unverified footage on social media showed a large black smoke cloud billowing at the site of an oil facility near the industrial city of Nizhnekamsk.
Tatneft's TANECO refinery, which was hit by Ukraine in early June, processed 17 million tonnes of crude oil in 2024, producing 2.7 million tonnes of gasoline and 8.5 million tonnes of diesel fuel.
Tatarstan head Rustam Minnikhanov has declared a period of mourning after the Ukrainian attack, Radmir Belyayev, the city's mayor, said.
Ukraine has stepped up its strikes on Russian oil refineries in recent months, in a campaign that has caused fuel shortages in many parts of Russia, though authorities say most of those initial problems have since been resolved.
Both sides have significantly escalated their long-range attacks this year, causing a spike in civilian deaths, according to the United Nations.
Near the front line in Ukraine, a Russian artillery strike killed five people in a village in the northeastern Kharkiv region, local Ukrainian officials 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.
It posted a picture of a house reduced to rubble by the attack.
Russia's defence ministry said it shot down 456 Ukrainian drones fired overnight. It never states how many reached their targets.
The Tatarstan region had earlier reported a "massive" Ukrainian drone attack.
Ukraine's air force said Russia fired 126 drones in its overnight attack.
A woman was also killed in a Ukrainian attack on the Russian border region of Belgorod, and a man was killed in a Russian drone strike on a taxi in the frontline Kherson region, officials there said.
