Ukrainian drones struck the Russian city of Nizhnekamsk early Sunday, killing two civilians and injuring 12 others, according to local officials — the latest in a long-range campaign that Kyiv has aimed squarely at the oil and petrochemical industry funding Moscow’s war effort.
The two people died after a drone crashed into a tree next to their parked car, the office of Tatarstan regional head Rustam Minnikhanov said. Nizhnekamsk is home to one of Russia’s largest concentrations of refineries and petrochemical, rubber and polymer plants. Mayor Radmir Belyaev said a fire had broken out “at one of the city’s enterprises,” without elaborating.
Russia’s defense ministry said its forces intercepted 389 Ukrainian drones overnight, including over Tatarstan, other Russian regions and Russian-occupied Crimea. The figures could not be independently verified.
A widening drone war
Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence agency claimed a separate overnight strike on a major oil refinery in Slavyansk-on-Kuban, in Russia’s Krasnodar region across from Crimea. The agency said its drones hit a key processing unit and the refinery’s tank farm, igniting a blaze visible from dozens of kilometers away. Krasnodar authorities confirmed an attack on “an enterprise” in the town that injured three people, damaged an oil pipeline and started a fire, but did not directly address the Ukrainian claims.
Kyiv has increasingly targeted Russian oil and gas infrastructure, arguing those facilities both bankroll and directly supply the invasion. The campaign has forced fuel rationing in parts of Russia despite the country’s standing as a major exporter. Other Ukrainian strikes have hit large Russian online retailers, pushing the effects of the war closer to ordinary consumers.
On the Ukrainian side, at least nine people were injured in what Serhii Lysak, who heads Odesa’s military administration, described as a “massive” Russian nighttime attack on the Black Sea port city. Odesa is home to Ukraine’s principal port hub and has weathered months of sustained drone and missile strikes, with Kyiv accusing Moscow of trying to strangle its seaborne exports.
The bombardment followed a strike Saturday on a residential high-rise in Odesa that killed two people and injured 26, according to Ukrainian officials. Regional head Oleh Kiper said the building’s upper floors were completely destroyed.
Fire near the Polish border
Russian drones also struck western Ukraine through the night. One hit near the Yahodyn-Dorohusk border crossing with Poland, setting a petrol station ablaze, according to Ukraine’s top diplomat and a spokesperson for the local customs force.
“This is Putin’s terror ‘knocking’ directly on the doors of the EU and NATO. Russian barbarians are at your gate, dear partners,” Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote on X.
The Polish border crossings serve as a critical conduit for a large share of the military and humanitarian aid Western allies send into Ukraine, making the area a sensitive target. Valentyna Chernysh, a spokesperson for the Volyn Customs Office, told the Associated Press that the Yahodyn crossing itself was intact and no one was hurt, explaining that it had been temporarily closed during the air raid alert and people were directed to shelters.
Ukraine’s state rail operator separately reported that a Russian drone attacked the locomotive of a passenger train in the Volyn region, about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) from the Polish border.
Ukraine’s air force said its defenses shot down or suppressed 409 Russian drones overnight and that Moscow had launched 453 in total, including a newer jet-powered model that is faster and harder to intercept.
Moscow presses its air campaign
The exchanges come as Russia has intensified its aerial campaign in recent weeks, deploying ballistic missiles and jet-powered drones to penetrate Ukrainian air defenses and exploit Kyiv’s shrinking stock of missile interceptors. Russian attacks have focused on Ukraine’s power grid ahead of winter, which Ukrainian officials describe as an effort to demoralize the civilian population.
The Associated Press contributed to this report from Kyiv.
Source: www.breitbart.com — https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2026/09/13/ukrainian-drones-kill-two-in-russia-as-moscow-hits-main-port-hub-in-black-sea/