Putin wows more ‘destruction’ in Ukraine after drone strike on Russian city

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday vowed to bring more “destruction” to Ukraine in retaliation for a drone attack on the central Russian city of Kazan a day earlier.

Russia accused Ukraine of carrying out a “massive” drone strike that hit a luxury apartment block in Kazan, located about 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) from the Ukraine-Russia frontier.

Videos circulating on Russian social media showed drones hitting a high-rise glass building, causing fireballs, though no casualties were reported.

“Whoever tries to destroy [Russia] will face many times more destruction themselves and will regret what they are trying to do,” Putin said during a televised government meeting on Sunday.

Putin made the comments while speaking via video link to the regional leader of Tatarstan, where Kazan is located, during a road-opening ceremony.

The strike on Kazan is the latest in a series of escalating aerial attacks as the nearly three-year conflict drags on. Ukraine has not commented on the incident.

Putin has previously threatened to target central Kyiv with hypersonic ballistic missiles in response to Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory.

Russia’s defense ministry has described its strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities in recent weeks as retaliatory measures for Kyiv using Western-supplied missiles to hit Russian air bases and arms factories.

Advances in eastern Ukraine

The latest threat comes as Russia claimed fresh battlefield gains in eastern Ukraine.

The defense ministry announced on Telegram that Russian troops had “liberated” the villages of Lozova in the northeastern Kharkiv region and Krasnoye — known as Sontsivka in Ukraine. The latter is near the resource hub of Kurakhove, which Russia has nearly encircled and views as a key target in its efforts to seize control of the entire Donetsk region.

Russia has accelerated its advance across eastern Ukraine in recent months, aiming to secure as much territory as possible before U.S. President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January.

Trump pledges to end the conflict

Trump has pledged to bring a swift end to the conflict but has not yet outlined specific terms for a ceasefire or peace agreement.

Moscow’s military claims to have seized more than 190 Ukrainian settlements this year, while Kyiv continues to struggle with shortages of manpower and ammunition.

Meanwhile, Kyiv on Sunday accused Russian forces of executing captured Ukrainian soldiers in what it called a war crimes violation.

Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, posted a video on Telegram showing what he described as “the shooting of soldiers who surrendered.” The aerial footage, purportedly from a drone, appears to show Russian forces shooting Ukrainian soldiers at point-blank range after they had surrendered.

This allegation follows a series of similar war crimes claims made by Ukraine throughout the nearly three-year conflict.