KYIV — Russia and Ukraine traded massive waves of drone attacks overnight into Sunday, leaving civilians dead and injured and damaging energy infrastructure on both sides as Moscow intensified its air campaign ahead of winter.
Two people were killed and 12 others injured when Ukrainian drones struck Nizhnekamsk in Russia’s Tatarstan region, according to the office of regional head Rustam Minnikhanov.
The two civilians died after a drone struck a tree near their parked car, officials said.
Nizhnekamsk is home to a major concentration of Russian oil refineries and petrochemical, rubber and polymer plants. Mayor Radmir Belyaev said a fire broke out at one of the city’s enterprises but provided no further details.
Ukraine also said Sunday that its drones struck a major oil refinery in Slavyansk-on-Kuban in Russia’s Krasnodar region.
Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence agency said drones hit a key oil-processing unit and the refinery’s tank farm, triggering a large fire.
Krasnodar authorities said an attack on an enterprise in Slavyansk-on-Kuban injured three people, damaged an oil pipeline and caused a fire, but did not directly confirm Ukraine’s account of the target.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces shot down 389 Ukrainian drones overnight over Tatarstan, other Russian regions and Russian-occupied Crimea.
Russia, meanwhile, launched 453 drones against Ukraine overnight, according to the Ukrainian Air Force, which said air defenses shot down or suppressed 409 of them.
At least nine people were injured in what officials described as a massive Russian nighttime attack on Odesa, according to Serhii Lysak, head of the city’s military administration.
The latest attack came a day after a Russian drone struck a residential high-rise in Odesa, killing two people and injuring 26 others.
Russian drones also struck western Ukraine near the Polish border.
One drone hit near the Yahodyn-Dorohusk border crossing with Poland, setting a petrol station on fire. The crossing itself was not damaged and no casualties were reported after it was temporarily closed during an air raid alert and people were directed to shelters.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said the attack brought the threat posed by Russia directly to the borders of the European Union and NATO.
Separately, Ukraine’s state railway operator said a Russian drone attacked the locomotive of a passenger train in the Volyn region, about 2 kilometers from the Polish border.
Russia has stepped up its aerial campaign in recent weeks, using ballistic missiles and faster jet-powered drones against Ukraine as Kyiv faces pressure on its stocks of air-defense interceptors. Russian attacks have also increasingly targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure ahead of winter.
Ukraine, meanwhile, has intensified long-range strikes against Russia’s oil and gas sector, which Kyiv says provides revenue and fuel for Moscow’s war effort.
Source: Saudi Gazette