On Russia Day, drones hit an apartment building and two oil refineries in Tatarstan and ignite a fire at a petrochemical plant in the Samara region

Republic of Tatarstan

Ukrainian drones struck two oil refineries in Nizhnekamsk on June 12. The Ukrainian Armed Forces General Staff said the targets were the TANEKO refinery (Tatneft) and TAIF-NK. Ukrainian monitoring Telegram channels were among the first to report the strikes, though they initially wrote that one of the targets was the Nizhnekamskneftekhim refinery, a Sibur subsidiary. The confusion likely stemmed from the fact that the TAIF-NK plant was part of Nizhnekamskneftekhim until the late 1990s.

Local authorities stopped short of disclosing which facilities the drones had struck. Tatarstan Governor Rustam Minnikhanov said only that enterprises that had come under attack were “promptly addressing the aftermath.” Nizhnekamsk Mayor Radmir Belyaev said a fire had broken out at one of the city’s “industrial facilities.”

One of the drones struck a 12-story apartment building during the attack on Nizhnekamsk. A fire broke out and residents were evacuated to a temporary shelter. Four people were taken to the hospital, Belyaev said. Three suffered acute stress reactions; the fourth sustained a shrapnel wound to the lower jaw.

Samara region

The region came under Ukrainian drone attack for the second time in a week. Overnight on June 10, drones struck the Kuibyshev oil refinery (Rosneft), which subsequently halted operations. Overnight on June 12, the Tolyattikauchuk petrochemical plant — which Ukraine has struck multiple times before — caught fire following Ukrainian strikes.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces General Staff said the strike was justified by the plant’s role in producing synthetic rubbers used, among other things, in the manufacture of solid rocket fuel for tactical and ballistic missiles.

Tolyatti Mayor Ilya Sukhikh said “damage was recorded” at one of the city’s industrial facilities after a drone came down. He did not specify which facility and reported no casualties.

Both attacks fell on Russia Day, a national holiday celebrated across the country. Nizhnekamsk canceled its holiday events after the strike. In total, Russian forces shot down 231 Ukrainian drones overnight into Friday over 15 Russian regions, occupied Crimea, and the waters of the Sea of Azov, the Defense Ministry reported.

Ukraine has increasingly targeted Russian oil facilities and other energy infrastructure in recent months. A fuel crisis persists across 25 regions of the country and in occupied Crimea, while the geographic reach of the strikes continues to expand. On June 10, an air raid alert was declared in the Omsk region for the first time.