A Ukrainian military drone strike near the Russian city of Elabuga on Tuesday has left students from eight foreign countries injured, RIA Novosti reports, citing local authorities. All those affected by the attack were studying at a technical college, according to the regional health authorities.
An college dormitory at Alabuga Polytech in the city’s Special Economic Zone was hit, the press service of the president of Tatarstan confirmed to several Russian news outlets on Wednesday.
The attack has left a total of 14 people wounded. “Citizens of Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Congo, Kenya, Nigeria and South Sudan” were among them, RIA Novosti reported, citing a source in the republic’s administration. Six people remain hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries; the rest have been released.
The Alabuga Special Economic Zone, located some 10 kilometers away from the city of Elabuga, offers special conditions for businesses, such as tax breaks, and is one of the oldest such districts in Russia; it is a major car manufacturing hub.
Alabuga Polytech offers education in industrial robot engineering, chemical analysis, business software engineering, and microelectronics amongst others. The college is the largest educational center in Russia, according to the SEZ’s website; it has a capacity of 10,000 students per year.
A separate Ukrainian attack that took place the same day targeted another industrial facility, in the city of Nizhnekamsk, Tatarstan. The strike involved a single drone that was disabled using electronic jamming before it could reach its target, the city mayor, Ramil Mulin, told the media.
Later on Tuesday, CNN reported that Kiev’s Western backers were coordinating the flight paths of these kamikaze drones and helping the Ukrainian military launch unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) deep into Russian territory.
The report came despite US Secretary of State Antony Blinken denying any US involvement in the Ukrainian attacks on Russia’s Republic of Tatarstan. Washington had “neither supported nor enabled strikes by Ukraine outside of its territory,” he said during his visit to Paris.
Moscow has repeatedly warned that the delivery of weapons and other military aid to Kiev makes Western countries direct participants in the conflict. On Tuesday, the secretary of the Russian Security Council, Nikolay Patrushev, stated that the US-led military bloc collectively decides on the quantity and types of weapons it sends to Ukraine. He also said that the bloc helps to plan attacks on Russia.