Ukraine strikes Russia in a major drone and missile attack

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Ukraine bombed Russian areas with a major drone and missile attack overnight, damaging at least two factories and forcing schools to close in a major city in southern Russia, Russian officials and media said.

The Shot Telegram channel said that Russia shot down more than 200 Ukrainian drones and five American-made ATACMS ballistic missiles.

The war blogger “Two Majors” said, “The enemy organized a large-scale joint strike on the territory of the Russian regions.”

Alexander Bogomaz, the governor of the Bryansk region in western Russia, said that Ukraine had launched a major missile attack, but he did not say which missiles were used.

The Russian Defense Ministry, which announces such attacks, did not immediately comment. Reuters could not immediately confirm these reports.

In the Russian city of Engels, where there is an air base where Russian nuclear bombers are stationed, the governor of Saratov, Roman Busargin, said that an industrial enterprise was damaged by a drone, but he did not provide further details.

Classes at schools in Saratov and Engels will be held remotely, Bussargin said. Russia’s aviation watchdog said flight restrictions had been imposed in Kazan, Saratov, Penza, Ulyanovsk and Nizhnekamsk.

The city of Nizhnekamsk is located in the Russian Republic of Tatarstan, and is home to the major Taniko refinery. Schott said that sirens sounded at the refinery. Reuters could not immediately verify the report.

Russia launched a new medium-range hypersonic ballistic missile known as “Oreshnik” or “Hazel Tree” at Ukraine on November 21 in what President Vladimir Putin said was a direct response to Ukrainian forces’ strikes on Russia with US and British missiles.

After those attacks, Putin said that the Ukraine war was escalating into a global conflict after the United States and Britain allowed Ukraine to strike Russia with their weapons, and the West warned that Moscow might respond.

President-elect Donald Trump is pushing for a ceasefire and negotiations to end the war quickly, leaving Washington’s long-term support for Ukraine in question.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 led to the deaths of tens of thousands, the displacement of millions, and sparked the largest crisis in relations between Moscow and the West since the Cuban missile crisis in 1962.