Ukrainian drones have hit residential buildings in the Russian city of Kazan, more than 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) from the front line, bringing the war deep into the heart of Russia.
The Russian Ministry of Defence said the city, located some 800km (500 miles) east of Moscow, was attacked by three waves of drones between 7:40am and 9:20am (04:40 and 06:20 GMT) on Saturday.
Eight drones were used in the attack, according to the press service of the Tatarstan regional government. Six hit residential buildings, one hit an industrial facility and another was shot down over a river, it said in a statement.
Local authorities said there were no casualties. Ukraine did not acknowledge the attack in keeping with its security policy.
The Kazan airport temporarily halted flight arrivals and departures, Russia’s aviation watchdog Rosaviatsia said via Telegram.
‘High-tech duel’
The incident comes amid growingly brazen attacks after Russia’s President Vladimir Putin proposed a “high-tech duel” with Kyiv during his end-of-year news conference on Thursday, suggesting he would test his claims that Russia’s new hypersonic ballistic missile was impervious to air defences.
On Friday, at least one person was killed and seven were wounded after Russian hypersonic missiles hit Ukraine’s capital Kyiv.
Ukraine targeted the town of Rylsk in Russia’s Kursk border region on the same day, deploying United States-supplied missiles in an attack that killed six people, including a child.
Ukrainian officials said Moscow sent 113 drones into Ukraine overnight into Saturday, 57 of which were shot down. Another 56 drones were “lost,” likely having been electronically jammed.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia also fired one S-400 missile at central Ukraine but that there was no damage from it.
Moscow has been launching near-daily attacks with dozens of drones at Ukraine in an effort to exhaust its air defences.
Russia is also continuing its battle to take control of the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine. On Saturday, the defence ministry claimed its troops captured the village of Kostiantynopolske, called Ostrovsky by Russia.
The settlement lies 10km (six miles) southwest of Kurakhove, which Russian troops have stormed and are threatening to encircle, according to DeepState, a Ukrainian group mapping the fighting.
