THIS is the moment Ukrainian drone strikes hit a 400ft Russian skyscraper – sparking a huge blast.
Footage shows the deadly drone flying into the 37-floor Azure skies residential tower before erupting into flames.
The moment a drone hit the Manhatten residential complex in Kazan.[/caption]
Plumes of smoke erupted from the skyscraper[/caption]
An aircraft-type drone was seen striking the upper part of the 399ft building and exploding.
An earlier strike had left a burning hole in the upper part of the complex.
Another tower block – the 23-floor Manhattan residential building in central Kazan – was also hit.
A drone was seen crashing into the complex, resulting in a massive explosion and fire.
Residents were told to evacuate or take cover in basements.
Separately, there was a fire in a five-story building in Kazan after a drone attack.
Firefighters were at the scenes of the attacks.
It was not immediately clear what motive was behind the strikes on the city which began at around 8:30am local time, and if there was a specific target.
The drones hit the buildings from the east, so not the “Ukrainian side”.
The nearest Ukrainian controlled territory is some 670 miles away.
Russian reports said the Lyuti drones – meaning Fierce – were behind the attack, but if so the distance would seem to be at the maximum of their range.
Kazan is the capital of the Russian republic of Tatarstan, a region which has led the way in the manufacturing of Russian military drones.
The city has a 1.3 million population, and is known as Russia’s ‘third capital’ after Moscow and St Petersburg.
There were fears of more attacks as air raid sirens sounded, and residents were ordered to remain calm, get warmly dressed and go down to the first floors and basements .
There was no immediate information on casualties from the Kazan strikes.
Earlier in attacks on Russia’s Kursk region, five people were killed and 12 wounded in strikes on Rylsk.
A total of eight drones hit Kazan today, said the regional authorities.
Only one was shot down.
One hit an industrial enterprise, one a river, and six were struck residential areas, according to Russian sources.
The city’s international airport was closed due to the unmanned planes.
Students at a number of Kazan schools were evacuated during a drone attack.
Russian war channels said the likely target was a gunpowder plant in Kazan, and alleged the “clumsy enemy completely ignored the presence of high-rise residential buildings on their path, which led to the kamikazes colliding with high-rise buildings”.
Others claimed the target was the Kazan Aviation Plant or an airfield.
New footage shows a suspected Ukrainian drone hit the 37-floor Azure Skies elite residential tower in Kazan.
Russian air defences also shot down a drone approaching Kazan.
Meanwhile, in Rylsk, 33 miles from the Ukrainian border in Kursk region, heavy fighting was underway amid Ukrainian shelling with multiple buildings ablaze.
In Kherson, a cancer hospital was ablaze after being struck by a Russian aerial bomb.
No casualties were reported but the hospital was ablaze.
The moment a Ukrainian drone hits the Azure Skies tower block in Kazan[/caption]
Local officials stand in front of a damaged residential building following a drone attack in Kazan[/caption]