Ukrainian drone strike kills at least 13 in Russia in deadliest attack in 2 years

A Ukrainian drone strike on a Russian industrial city killed at least 13 people on Monday, including a child, the deadliest attack on the country in more than two years.

Nizhnekamsk, which is roughly 750 miles east of the Ukrainian border, came under a "massive" drone attack overnight that left another 75 people injured, according to the press service of Tatarstan's head, Rustam Minnikhanov.

The assault targeted the Taneco oil refinery in Nizhnekamsk, one of Russia's largest and most advanced oil facilities that lies more than 600 miles east of Moscow.

The attack comes as part of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's latest campaign to cripple Russia's refineries and force Russian dictator Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table to put an end to his more than 4-year-old invasion.

Ukraine's General Staff confirmed the attack on Taneco and added that a fire had been set off following the drone strikes.

At least one child was killed in the strike, according to Russia's Investigative Committee, with the Uzbek consulate in Kazan adding that seven of its citizens working in the city had also been killed.

The strikes come just a day after Russia and Ukraine traded heavy blows on Sunday, with Russia killing 13 people, including a 3-year-old boy and his grandparents.

Moscow followed up the attacks on Monday with one strike hitting a warehouse for the World Health Organization's European office in Dnipro, destroying an estimated $500,000 worth of emergency supplies marked for front-line health facilities, the agency said.

Ukraine has struggled to intercept the strikes due to a shortage of US-made Patriot missiles, which has caused casualties to shoot up under the constant Russian attacks.

Nearly 1,400 Ukrainian civilians have been killed in the first six months of 2026, a sharp increase from the same period in both 2024 and 2025, according to the United Nations.

The increased wave of Russian attacks has led Zelensky to ramp up Ukraine's long-distance strikes, which Moscow has found increasingly difficult to defend against.

"We do deliver entirely justified responses, and every Russian strike will be met with our response. Russia's war will be felt more and more at their own home - in Russia," Zelensky said late Sunday on social media.

"The only reason this is still continuing is Russia's unwillingness to end this war," he added.