Ukrainian drones they caused this morning damages in apartment buildings and led to the removal of residents to Kazana city in central Russia about 1,000 kilometers from the border with Ukraine, local officials said, adding that there were no immediate reports of casualties.

“Today Kazan suffered a massive drone attack,” its head reported on Telegram Republic of Tatarstan, where is the city located Rustam Minikhanov.

“If in the past industries were attacked, now the enemy is attacking civilians (…) directly in their homes”, he complained.

Residents were forced to leave their homes, local authorities said, without specifying their number.

Kazan’s mayor’s office announced that the attacks had caused “fires” in several districts, while adding that firefighters had already been dispatched.

Videos posted on social media and broadcast by Russian media showed drones crashing into several high-rise buildings, creating spectacular fireballs.

AFP has not been able to confirm the authenticity of the images.

Minikhanov’s press office indicated that eight drones were spotted, but there are currently no reports of casualties.

The Ministry of Defense of Russia for his part he accused Ukraine of targeting “political infrastructure” in Kazan.

According to the same source, six drones were neutralized or destroyed. It was not clear how many Ukrainian drones there were in total or whether any of them hit their target.

Kazan, located on the banks of the Volga River, has come under repeated drone attacks from Ukraine targeting industrial facilities linked to the Russian military.

The city is located about 700 kilometers east of Moscow.

At Kazan airport, traffic was temporarily suspended this morning, as announced by the Russian civil aviation service (Rosaviatsia).

OR Republic of Tatarstan announced on its Telegram channel that all major public events scheduled for the Christmas weekend have been canceled for security reasons.