Ukraine drone strike kills 13 in Tatarstan, officials say

Russian authorities in Tatarstan said Monday that a Ukrainian drone strike killed at least 13 people and wounded 75 in Nizhnekamsk, an industrial oil-refining city more than 1,000 kilometres from Ukraine's border.

The regional press service said 21 of the wounded had been hospitalised. Russia's Investigative Committee said a child was among those killed, and the regional government said citizens of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan were also among the dead.

Ukraine's General Staff said it had struck the Taneko refinery, controlled by oil company Tatneft, as part of a campaign to reduce Russia's military potential. Tatarstan had earlier reported a “massive” Ukrainian drone attack.

Russia's defence ministry said its air defences shot down 456 Ukrainian drones fired overnight. Ukraine's air force said Russia fired 126 drones in its overnight attack.

Deadly strikes were also reported in Ukraine on Monday. The Kharkiv regional prosecutor's office said a Russian artillery strike killed five people in Bugaivka village, in the Chuguiv district, and destroyed several houses. Officials also said a Russian drone strike killed a man in a taxi in the frontline Kherson region, while a Ukrainian attack killed a woman in Russia's border region of Belgorod.

In Ukraine's southern Odesa region, tens of thousands of households remained without power after Russian strikes hit the power grid over the weekend. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned at the weekend that Ukraine had “virtually no intact thermal power plants” after Russian attacks.

The United Nations has said civilian deaths have risen as Russia and Ukraine have escalated long-range attacks. Russia's large-scale offensive against Ukraine began more than four years ago.