Videos published by residents showed a large fire at the plant, and local social media pages reported numerous "powerful explosions." One subscriber to the Samara region governor's channel wrote that there was a "smell of chemicals" in the air. Residents also reported disruptions to electricity and water and the evacuation of AvtoVAZ employees, The Insider reported.
Tolyattikauchuk, owned by Tatneft, produces synthetic rubbers, monomers, hydrocarbon fractions and high-octane gasoline additives. According to the Ukrainian military, these rubbers are used in the production of solid rocket fuel for tactical and ballistic missiles. The Insider noted that Astra reported the Tolyatti thermal power plant is located next to the factory and was probably also hit.
Samara region Governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev said on the morning of October 24 that the military and mobile fire groups were repelling a Ukrainian attack on the region. He gave no details. Restrictions were imposed at Samara airport during the attack. Fedorishchev later warned of liability for publishing footage of the aftermath of attacks. The strike on the plant has not been officially confirmed.
The Russian Defense Ministry said it shot down 616 Ukrainian drones between 8:00 p.m. on October 23 and 8:00 a.m. on October 24 over 18 regions, the Moscow region, Crimea, Tatarstan, Krasnodar Krai and the waters of the Azov and Black seas. Rostov region Governor Yuri Slyusar said more than 80 drones were destroyed over the region. In Rostov-on-Don, "drone debris" fell on the roof of a branch of Rostovpassazhirtrans, damaging 21 buses. In the Kalinin farmstead of the Myasnikovsky district, a transformer substation was damaged and 172 private houses were left without electricity.
Sevastopol also lost power as a result of an attack on energy infrastructure, according to Mikhail Razvozhayev, governor of the annexed city. He linked the outage to an attack on energy infrastructure outside the city. Oleg Kryuchkov, an adviser to the head of Crimea, spoke of an "accident on power grids outside the peninsula" and reported at about 1:37 a.m. that power supply had been restored. The Krymsky Veter channel suggested the target was a substation in Taman. In the Temryuk district of Krasnodar Krai, a substation in the Beloye farmstead caught fire after drone debris fell, leaving three settlements without power, the regional operations headquarters said.
Tolyattikauchuk has come under drone attack before. On September 12, the Ukrainian General Staff reported hitting the plant and a large fire in Tolyatti. The blaze occurred near the KuibyshevAzot petrochemical enterprise, Astra wrote. Ukrainian forces also attacked the plant in June. Mayor Ilya Sukhikh then confirmed damage at an "industrial facility" as a result of a "drone fall."
Accounts differ: Astra, Exilenova+, Supernova+ and The Insider reported a fire at Tolyattikauchuk after the drone attack, based on eyewitness videos and monitoring channels. Samara region Governor Fedorishchev has not officially confirmed a strike on the plant and gave no details. The Russian Defense Ministry reported only the interception of 616 drones, without mentioning consequences on the ground.