Ukraine launched a significant overnight assault on Russian territories using drones and missiles, inflicting damage on at least two factories and prompting school closures in a major city in southern Russia, according to Russian officials and media reports.
The Shot Telegram channel reported that Russia intercepted over 200 Ukrainian drones and five US-manufactured ATACMS ballistic missiles.
“The enemy has organized a massive combined strike on the territory of the Russian regions,” stated the war blogger Two Majors.
The Governor of Russia’s Bryansk region, Alexander Bogomaz, confirmed a large-scale missile attack from Ukraine but did not specify the type of missiles used.
Although the Russian defense ministry, typically responsible for addressing such incidents, has not yet commented, independent confirmation of the reports from Reuters remains pending.
In Engels, a Russian city housing an air base for nuclear bombers, Saratov Governor Roman Busargin revealed that a drone strike damaged an industrial facility but withheld additional details.
Classes in schools across Saratov and Engels were shifted online, Busargin added.
Meanwhile, Russia’s aviation authority imposed flight restrictions in Kazan, Saratov, Penza, Ulyanovsk, and Nizhnekamsk.
Nizhnekamsk, located in Tatarstan and home to the significant Taneco refinery, reportedly sounded attack sirens during the assault, as reported by Shot. However, Reuters has not verified this claims.
In Ukraine, soldiers navigated through wrecked buildings and metal debris while civilians were evacuated from Pokrovsk on January 8, 2025.
This development follows Russia’s November 21 launch of the “Oreshnik” hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile, which President Vladimir Putin described as a direct response to Ukraine’s strikes on Russian soil using US and British weaponry.
Putin has warned that these attacks signal an escalation of the conflict toward a global confrontation, cautioning Western powers that Moscow could retaliate.
Meanwhile, President-elect Donald Trump has called for an immediate ceasefire and negotiations to expedite the war’s resolution, casting uncertainty over Washington’s continued long-term support for Kyiv.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has caused immense devastation, leaving tens of thousands dead, millions displaced, and plunging Moscow-West relations into their gravest crisis since the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.
