Governor Roman Busargin said the two cities had been subject to a mass drone attack and there was damage to an industrial site. He did not say if the air base at Engels had been hit. 

Busargin said there was a fire at the industrial company that was struck, but that there were no known casualties. 

Russian news outlets with links to the security services published photos showing a major fire and said local people had reported multiple explosions. One of the channels, Baza, said the fire was near an oil facility. 

The Engels base is home to Russia’s long-range bomber fleet, which forms part of its strategic nuclear forces. It is about 730 km southeast of Moscow and hundreds of kilometers from the Ukrainian border. 

Ukraine has attacked the base before. In December 2022, three Russian air force personnel were killed when a drone was shot down at the site.