The Russian Security Service also foiled a planned attack targeting a Defense Ministry officer.

On Friday, the Russian Defense Ministry said its air defenses shot down 231 drones across 15 regions as citizens celebrate Russia Day.

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Tatarstan Gov. Rustam Minnikhanov confirmed a massive attack on the Zakamsky district, where four people were hospitalized after a residential building was struck. A company was also attacked.

Telegram channels reported that Ukrainian drones may also have hit a refinery belonging to the Sibur group in Nizhnekamsk, a city of 200,000 residents where Russia Day celebrations have been suspended.

Ukrainian drones also targeted the Crimean Peninsula, the border regions of Belgorod, Bryansk and Kursk, as well as the Moscow region, where 13 unmanned aircraft were shot down.

Ilya Sukhikh, mayor of the industrial city of Tolyatti, reported damage to a company that Ukrainian media identified as the Togliattikauchuk chemical plant.

On Thursday, Moscow authorities canceled the traditional concert in Red Square commemorating Russia Day for the first time since 2003.

Russia Foils Assassination Plot Targeting Defense Ministry Officer

On Thursday, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) confirmed that it foiled a planned attack targeting a Russian Defense Ministry officer and detained a foreign national allegedly recruited by Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU).

The suspect, a foreign citizen born in 1990, was detained during a special operation in the Moscow region. He was tasked by the SBU with assassinating a Russian military officer.

According to the FSB, the suspect entered Russia in February. Acting on instructions from his handlers, he retrieved a pistol fitted with a silencer and 16 rounds of ammunition from a hidden cache and conducted surveillance of the target’s residence and workplace.

The suspect had been recruited by SBU officers in a European country, where he had fled to avoid criminal prosecution in his home country. He was promised assistance in obtaining refugee status and legal residence in the European Union in exchange for carrying out the assignment.

teleSUR/ JF

Sources: EFE – Xinhua

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