Russia’s 9/11: Towering infernos as Ukraine’s drones fly into Kazan buildings
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Even as Russians started preparing to welcome Christmas, US President-elect Donald Trump hoped for a ceasefire, and Russian President Vladimir Putin gave a ‘positive response’ to it, Ukraine allegedly shot off at least eight drones in rapid succession into Kazan City’s residential towers on Friday, setting some of them on massive fires.
Local authorities said there were no casualties. Ukraine did not acknowledge the attack in keeping with its security policy.
As Moscow blamed Kyiv for the attack, Kazan officials launched emergency response efforts and residents were evacuated from the burning buildings.
Russian aviation watchdog Rosaviatsia said the Kazan airport temporarily suspended operations after the attack and restrictions were clamped at Izhevsk airport also.
Kazan is located approximately 800 km east of Moscow. Russian news agency Sputnik said Russian air defenses shot down a drone over Kazan while others managed to penetrate.
The drone attack came after Russia attacked Ukrainian cities on Friday, with a barrage of 60 drones and five ballistic missiles hitting residential areas in Kyiv. At least one person was killed and seven were wounded after a Russian hypersonic missile hit Ukraine’s capital.
In retaliation, Ukrainian drones hit residential buildings in Kazan, bringing the war deep into the heart of Russia.
The Russian Ministry of Defence said Kazan was attacked by three waves of drones between 7:40 am and 9:20 am (04:40 and 06:20 GMT) on Saturday. Six drones hit residential buildings, one hit an industrial facility and another was shot down over a river.
The incident came amid growingly brazen attacks after President Vladimir Putin proposed a “high-tech duel” with Kyiv during his end-of-year news conference on Thursday, suggesting he would test his claims that Russia’s new hypersonic ballistic missile was impervious to air defenses.
Ukraine targeted the town of Rylsk in Russia’s Kursk border region on the same day, deploying United States-supplied missiles in an attack that killed six people, including a child.
Ukrainian officials said Moscow sent 113 drones into Ukraine overnight into Saturday, 57 of which were shot down. Another 56 drones were “lost,” likely having been electronically jammed.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia also fired one S-400 missile at central Ukraine but that there was no damage from it.
Moscow has been launching near-daily attacks with dozens of drones at Ukraine to exhaust its air defenses.
Russia is also continuing its battle to take control of the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine. On Saturday, the defense ministry claimed its troops captured the village of Kostiantynopolske, called Ostrovsky by Russia.
The settlement lies 10km (six miles) southwest of Kurakhove, which Russian troops have stormed and are threatening to encircle, according to DeepState, a Ukrainian group mapping the fighting.
