A long-range missile and drone attack on Russia’s Chuvash region on Tuesday killed two people, marking a rare attack by Ukraine deep in Russia, more than 900 miles from the border.
According to Russian state media RIA Novosti, another 34 people were injured in the attack, including one child. Chuvash Oblast declared a state of emergency after missile and drone attacks.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the attack targeted multiple targets “including military-industrial complexes” in Chuvash Oblast. In a statement on social media, he added that Ukraine’s “longstanding sanctions continue to provide a completely legitimate response to Russia’s attacks.”
Russia’s Ministry of Defense announced that it had intercepted 289 unmanned aerial vehicles launched by Ukraine in the night up to Tuesday.
A missile alert was also sounded overnight in Russia’s Khanty-Mansiysk region, about 1,200 miles from the Ukrainian border, according to the region’s governor.
The move comes as Moscow prepares to hold a May 9 Victory Day parade to commemorate the defeat of Nazi Germany, but the event has been scaled back to not include displays of heavy weapons due to security concerns.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has previously suggested that the threat and recent successes of long-range attacks by Ukraine were among the motivations for the additional security measures. The Kremlin is also increasing personal security around President Vladimir Putin, according to a European intelligence report obtained by CNN.
Meanwhile, in Ukraine, a Double Tap missile attack on a gas production facility in the Poltava region killed at least five people and injured 37 others. Ukraine’s Interior Minister Ihor Klimenko said on Tuesday that the dead included two rescue workers who were responding to the initial attack.
Russia launched a total of 11 ballistic missiles and 154 drones toward Ukraine between Monday night and early Tuesday morning, according to the Ukrainian Air Force. The attacks targeted the regions of Poltava, Kiev, Kharkov, Dnipro, Donetsk, and Zaporizhia.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
