Smoke was seen rising over Yelabuga city in Russia’s Tatarstan Republic on Sunday, June 15, amid drone attacks that reportedly targeted a Shahed drone manufacturing plant.
Local Telegram channels, including Astra, suggested the Alabuga plant, known for producing Shahed drones, may have been struck. Multiple videos posted on social media show smoke billowing from areas allegedly near the facility.
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“An air threat regime was declared in the region at 06:30. According to locals, drones were spotted in Chistopol and Yelabuga,” Russian media reported.
Flights were temporarily restricted at three Russian airports on Sunday morning – Izhevsk, Kazan, and Nizhnekamsk. Izhevsk and Kazan are in Tatarstan, while Nizhnekamsk is the capital of the Udmurtia Republic.
The drones themselves were also captured on video during the attack.
According to the Baza Telegram channel, one person was killed and 13 were injured. The head of Tatarstan, Rustam Minnikhanov, indirectly confirmed the strike, saying a drone had hit an “automobile plant” and naming the same casualty figures, although no official statement about a drone attack was issued.
“During the interception of a UAV, debris fell on the checkpoint building of the automobile plant in the Yelabuga district. As a result, one worker was killed, and 13 people were injured,” Minnikhanov wrote on his Telegram.
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He said that one of the injured was in serious condition, while the others received necessary medical care. A fire also broke out at the plant but was quickly extinguished.
The General Staff of Ukraine confirmed that one of Russia’s strike UAV production sites was hit.
“On June 15, units of the Special Operations Forces (SSO), in cooperation with other components of the Defense Forces, struck a key facility of the Russian aggressor’s military-industrial complex,” the report shared on Telegram stated.
According to the General Staff, the target was a UAV production site in Yelabuga, which the Russians use to manufacture, test, and launch strike drones against Ukraine, including attacks on energy and civilian infrastructure.
“It has been confirmed that the strike successfully reached the target area. The results are being clarified,” the statement added.
The Alabuga facility, built in 2023 in the Alabuga special economic zone, is widely reported to produce Shahed attack drones. Alabuga is the largest industrial special economic zone in Russia, located near Yelabuga, Naberezhnye Chelny, and Nizhnekamsk.
It spans nearly 4,000 hectares and is controlled by the Ministry of Land and Property Relations of the Republic of Tatarstan.
As of 2019, Alabuga accounted for over half of the total revenue, a third of tax contributions, and nearly 40% of private investment among all special economic zones in Russia.
This is not the first time Yelabuga has come under drone attack. The first reported strike occurred in April 2024 and was attributed to Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR). Additional drone strikes hit the city in April and May this year.
Andriy Kovalenko, head of Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation, previously stated that in 2024, Russia produced over 6,000 Shahed drones and thousands of decoy UAVs at Alabuga. The production target this year is reportedly set at 8,000-10,000 combat drones and 15,000 decoy drones.
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