KYIV, Ukraine — In a significant escalation of the conflict, Ukraine launched drone assaults deep into Russian territory early Saturday, targeting the city of Kazan in the Tatarstan region, located more than 600 miles (1,000 kilometers) from the front lines of the ongoing war. Local officials reported that several residential buildings sustained damage as a result of the strikes.

According to the office of Tatarstan’s governor, Rustam Minnikhanov, a total of eight drones were involved in the attack. Of these, six directly hit residential structures, one struck an industrial site, and another was intercepted and brought down over a river, as per the statement released to the public.

A video uploaded to the local Telegram news channel, Astra, which has been verified, captured footage of a drone impacting one of the upper floors of a high-rise building in Kazan.

Fortunately, local authorities confirmed that no injuries were reported from the incidents. Consequently, operations at Kazan’s airport were suspended, and all public gatherings were canceled for the weekend in response to the attacks.

Although Ukraine has not officially claimed responsibility for these strikes in line with its established security protocols, the incident follows a Ukrainian missile attack on Friday in Russia’s Kursk border area. That attack tragically resulted in the deaths of six individuals, including a child.

In response, Moscow launched an extensive counter-offensive, deploying 113 drones into Ukrainian airspace overnight into Saturday. Ukrainian officials reported that their air defense successfully intercepted and shot down 57 of these drones, while an additional 56 drones reportedly went “missing,” likely due to electronic jamming tactics by Ukrainian forces.

In another development, the governor of the Kharkiv region in Ukraine, Oleh Syniehubov, stated that drone strikes on the regional capital, also named Kharkiv, left eight individuals injured on Friday night.