Putin pledges revenge for Ukraine’s drone attack on Kazan
- 23 December, 07:29
Russian President Vladimir Putin has pledged to retaliate Ukrainian drone attack on high-rise apartment buildings in the city of Kazan in Tatarstan region, 1,000 kilometers from the frontline.
“Whoever, and however much they try to destroy, they will face many times more destruction themselves and will regret what they are trying to do in our country,” Putin said during a televised government meeting with Tatarstan leader on Sunday.
Videos circulated on local Telegram channels showed the skyscrapers being struck by drones. Six Ukrainian drones struck residential buildings in Kazan on Saturday, while the seventh drone hit an industrial enterprise. Various media sources reported that three people received injuries due to shattered window glasses.
The Saturday strike on Kazan was the latest in series of escalatory aerial strikes in the three-year-old war between the two countries. Ukraine has not confirmed the attack on Kazan. However, the attack is considered to be in response to Russian missile attacks on capital Kyiv.
Putin’s threats came as Russian Defence Ministry announced new advances in the battlefield on Sunday. The ministry stated that its forces captured Kostiantynopolske village referred to as Ostrovsky by Russian authorities, in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region. Russia has stepped up advances on Donetsk in recent months, in an attempt to secure as much territory as possible before the signing of a possible peace deal after January.
