Ukraine has launched its deepest drone attack on Russian territory: it hit 1,200 kilometers from the border

Ukrainian drones attacked industrial plants in the Russian province of Tatarstanaccording to the report from the Moscow authorities, in what would be, if confirmed, the Kiev attack that pushed further into Russian territory since the war began more than two years ago.

Seven people were injured in the attack on facilities located near the cities of Yelabuga and Nizhnekamsk about 1,200 kilometers east of Ukraineaccording to Russian regional authorities.

The attack did damage housing for students and workers in the duty-free zone where, according to other media, an Iranian-designed drone factory is supposedly located. Tatarstan is known for its high level of industrialization.

Furthermore, near Yelabuga there is a special economic zone that hosts chemical and mechanical engineering and metal factories. Nizhnekamsk has a large oil refinery.

Local authorities said industrial production was not affected, and the mayor of Nizhnekamsk said anti-aircraft defenses They had foiled the attempted attack on the refinery.

A source in the Ukrainian defense sector reported this to the AFP agency “It was a GUR operation“, the Ukrainian military secret service, which on other occasions has claimed responsibility for attacks of this type against Russian factories or refineries.

“It was a GUR operation, a Ukrainian drone attack against a drone assembly company Shahed. “Significant damage was inflicted on the site,” said the source, who did not specify whether the attack was carried out from Russian or Ukrainian territory.

Ukrainian authorities usually neither claim nor deny responsibility for attacks on Russian territory, although they sometimes make indirect references.

Drone developers have been expanding the range of their weapons for months, as part of Kiev’s efforts to offset its battlefield disadvantage in weapons and troops. Unmanned aircraft are also a cost-effective option as Ukraine awaits more military aid from the United States.

Neither side can make much progress right now on the roughly 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) of the front.

In the past, Ukraine has sent drones against St. Petersburg and its surroundings, about 1,000 kilometers north of the border. But facilities in Tatarstan, a province on the Volga River, would appear to be the most distant target Ukraine has attempted to strike.

Russian refineries and oil terminals have been targeted by Ukrainian drones in recent weeksamid an increase in attacks on Russian territory that included the use of long-distance drones.

President Zelensky said last year that his country had developed a weapon that hit a target 700 kilometers away, an apparent reference to a drone attack on Russian territory.

The government is determined to build a cutting-edge “drone army”, Digital Transformation Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said late last year. He added that his contribution to the war will be clear by the end of this year, noting that Ukraine has trained more than 100 people 10,000 new drone pilots last year.

Ukraine has also developed lethal maritime drones that have attacked Russian navy ships in the Black Sea.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Air Force said on Tuesday it had intercepted nine of ten Shahed drones launched overnight by Russia in a new attack on the country’s power grid.