MOSCOW, Jan 14, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - A Ukrainian drone attack hit a gas storage tank in Russia's Tatarstan region on Tuesday, sparking a huge blaze, authorities said.

Local media published images showing flames and black smoke billowing toward the sky near the city of Kazan, saying that the drone had struck a liquefied gas storage site near a chemical factory.

"A gas tank caught fire... following a drone attack", the local government said on the Telegram messaging service, adding that nobody was hurt.

In the region of Saratov, some 700 kilometres (435 miles) southeast of the capital Moscow, "an industrial site was damaged" in a drone attack in Engels, regional governor Roman Bussargin wrote on Telegram.

Schools in Saratov and Engels will hold classes online on Tuesday because of the attacks, he said.

The attack on Engels came days after a January 8 drone strike sparked a fire at an oil site that killed two firefighters and took five days to put out.

Ukraine regularly strikes military and energy sites in Russia, in retaliation against Russian strikes on its territory that began when Moscow sent troops into its neighbour in February 2022.

Russia and Ukraine have upped their strikes on one another ahead of US president-elect Donald Trump inauguration on January 20.

Trump has said that he aimed to stop the nearly three-year conflict and each side wants to be in the strongest negotiating position before the new US administration begins any talks on ending the conflict.