On Tuesday, as a result of a drone attack, factories in Tatarstan, located more than 1,100 km from the border with Ukraine, were targeted, and several people were injured, regional authorities said, as quoted by AFP. This economic zone is home to an industrial unit where Russia wants to produce thousands of Shahed drones with the help of Iran, The Washington Post reported last summer.

This is probably the first Ukrainian attack in the Russian Republic of Tatarstan and is one of the strikes carried out farthest from the border with Ukraine.

“This morning, an airstrike was carried out by drones on Tatarstan factories located in Yelabuz and Nizhnekamsk,” the press service of Tatar leader Rustem Minnikhanov reported in Telegram.

An important oil refinery is also located in Nizhnyokamsk. An unverified video published on social networks allegedly shows the moment of the strike at the refinery.

The attack “did not cause serious damage, the technological process of the companies was not disrupted,” the quoted source said, without specifying which plants were targeted. “Unfortunately, there are several victims in Yelabuz,” he emphasized.

The Alabuga Special Economic Zone (SEZ), established in 2006 and home to dozens of factories and enterprises specializing in the production of chemical products, engineering and metalworking, is located approximately ten kilometers from the city of Alabuga.

Two drones attacked a building in Alabuz on Tuesday at 02:45 GMT, injuring two people, the press service of the special economic zone said in a statement. Another unverified video posted on social media shows a large drone, very similar to a light aircraft, descending to the ground and causing an explosion.

The Russians want to produce thousands of Shahed drones there

The Washington Post wrote in a major investigative piece last August that the Russians had set up a production facility in the Alabuga economic zone where they had already assembled 300 Shahed explosive drones with components supplied by Iran.

In addition, it appears that the Russians are trying to produce and even improve attack drones on their own, with the goal of producing 6,000 units by 2025.

Documents seen by The Washington Post show that engineers at the plant are trying to improve on Iran’s outdated manufacturing techniques, using Russian industrial expertise to produce the drones on a larger scale than Tehran did and with greater quality control.

Engineers there are also trying to improve the drone, including making it capable of swarm attacks, where the drones autonomously coordinate an attack on a target.