Video Shows Ukraine’s Attack on Russian City 560 Miles From Frontline

A new video purportedly shows the moment a drone attacked a high rise building in Russia, hundreds of miles from the frontline in Ukraine.

Mash was among the Russian Telegram channels that posted footage of what it said was a drone hitting the 38th floor of Saratov’s tallest building at about 6 a.m. on Monday and the smoky aftermath. It said at least 20 cars were damaged after rubble fell directly onto a parking lot next to the building.

Although the clip appeared to show a direct hit by an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), Saratov Governor Roman Busargin said that “debris” had fallen on the building, which is nearly 400 feet high.

A spokesperson for Ukraine’s defense ministry told Newsweek: “We do not comment on what is happening in Russia.”

Busargin posted on Telegram about how Russian air defenses had eliminated drone attacks on Saratov and the nearby Engels air base eight miles away. There was no immediate information on damage at the base, which hosts Tupolev Tu-160M and Tu-95MS aircraft and was the scene of an attack in December 2022.

Ukraine’s air force reported only that overnight Sunday into Monday 11 Tu-95MS aircraft had been detected in Russian airspace.

At least four people were injured in an attack that led to flight restrictions in the region, which were lifted three hours later, Reuters reported.

“Unfortunately, there are casualties,” Busargin wrote in his post, next to images of the damaged building. “A woman was hospitalized in serious condition. Doctors are fighting for her life.”

Russia’s defense ministry said its air defenses thwarted nine drones over the region, roughly 560 miles away from the border with Ukraine, The Kyiv Independent reported. It said that drones were also destroyed over the Belgorod, Bryansk, Tula, Orel and Ryazan oblasts.

Separately, explosions were heard in Kyiv and other cities across Ukraine on Monday morning after Russia launched missile and drone attacks that killed at least three people, according to Ukrainian authorities.

In recent months, Ukraine has been accused by Russian authorities of conducting numerous drone attacks on targets ever deeper in Russian territory, hitting military and energy targets.

Last week, there was a strike on an ammunition depot in Ostrogozhsk in the Voronezh region, 400 miles south of Moscow. A strike also took place on the Conro Trader cargo ship in Kavkaz port in Russia’s Krasnodar territory, which Ukraine’s navy confirmed it had carried out on Thursday.

Meanwhile, a fire continues to burn in the city of Proletarsk, in the Rostov region, following a strike on an oil terminal. It spread to residential buildings amid criticism from locals that the authorities were not reacting adequately to the attack.