Russia: At least 13 people were killed, including a child, and 39 injured in a Ukrainian drone attack on industrial and civilian targets in the city of Nizhnekamsk, authorities said on Monday,10 August, one of the heaviest civilian tolls in Russia in months. In video on social media, smoke can be seen rising over what appears to be an oil refinery.
Chimneys and refinery structures also matched file imagery of Tatneft's TANECO refinery. NASA FIRMS detected thermal activity on 10 August in the direction of the Nizhnekamsk oil refinery, where the smoke appeared to come from in the footage.
Russian investigators said they had opened a criminal case into what they qualified as a terrorist attack, saying in a statement that Ukraine had struck residential areas.
The head of Russia's Tatarstan region, Rustam Minnikhanov, has declared a period of mourning, according to the mayor of Nizhnekamsk in a statement on Telegram.
There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.
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Tatneft's TANECO refinery, which was also hit by Ukraine in early June, processed 17 million tons of crude oil in 2024, producing 2.7 million tons of gasoline and 8.5 million tons of diesel fuel.
Ukraine has stepped up its strikes on Russian oil refineries in recent months in a campaign that has caused fuel shortages in many parts of Russia, although authorities say that most of those initial problems have since been resolved.
Ukraine says it wants to bring the price of Russia's war home to ordinary Russians. Moscow has imported fuel from overseas to help bolster supplies.
On Sunday, 9 August, both sides accused each other of lethal attacks. Three people were killed and 37 wounded in a Russian attack on the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, where a multi-storey apartment block was hit, while authorities in Russia's Belgorod said five were killed and 25 wounded by a Ukrainian drone attack.
Ukraine and Russia have repeatedly said they do not target civilians.
