Yesterday Saturday, Ukraine launched a major drone attack on the Russian city of Kazan, located a thousand kilometers from the Ukrainian border, in the latest escalation of the conflict which is entering its third year. The attack caused material damage without causing any casualties, but it caused great tensions on Russian territory.
Local authorities reported that a drone crashed into a 37-story residential building in Kazan, causing significant damage to the exterior facade. According to Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova, the attack included two planes that hit the building, while air defenses shot down 3 drones and intercepted 3 other planes.
Zakharova described the Ukrainian attack as an attempt to vent “anger over military defeats” on Russian civilians, emphasizing that kyiv is taking a hostile approach targeting “the peaceful population of Russia.”
Videos posted on Russian social media showed drones crashing into a high-rise building and fireballs in the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan.
In turn, the President of the Republic of Tatarstan, Rustam Minnikhanov, announced that the city, with a population of more than 1.3 million people, was subject to a large-scale attack using drones . The Russian Civil Aviation Authority temporarily closed Kazan International Airport as a precaution and all major public events in the region were canceled.
Although Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky did not comment directly on the Kazan attack, he confirmed on Saturday that kyiv would continue targeting Russian military targets using drones and missiles.
The escalation comes in light of Washington’s approval last month of kyiv’s authorization to use missiles to strike military targets inside Russian territory.
Russian advance
At the same time, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that it would take control of the village of Kostantinopolsky, located 8 kilometers from the town of Korakhovye, in eastern Ukraine, which appears on the verge of falling into the hands of the Russian army.
It’s part of an ongoing Russian campaign to make progress on the ground in eastern Ukraine, where the Russian military seeks to control strategic areas after months of fierce fighting.
Targeting the city of Kazan, the capital of the oil-rich republic of Tatarstan, is seen as a remarkable development due to its great distance from the Ukrainian border. The Ukrainian attack indicates an escalation of the conflict outside the framework of traditional fronts, as kyiv shows its willingness to use long-range weapons to strike deep into Russia.