The military of Ukraine said on Wednesday it struck several Russian weapon production sites during a major overnight drone attack that Moscow said its air defences had repelled.
Both sides have conducted aerial attacks on targets far behind the front lines, where fighting has raged for more than three years since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The latest attack struck Russia’s Kronstadt plant, which produces drones in the town of Dubna outside Moscow, and the nearby Raduga plant that makes cruise missiles, Ukraine’s general staff said.
The Angstrem microchip factory in the Moscow region was also struck, it said, adding that the facility produced components widely used by Russia’s military-industrial complex.
The factory is in the Elma Technological Park in Zelenograd. Videos circulating online showed fire and smoke at the technological park. Reuters was able to independently confirm the location of the video, but not the date of the footage.
Russia’s defence ministry said its air defences had downed 296 Ukrainian drones over 13 regions overnight.
The Ukrainian military’s statement did not make clear what weapons its forces used to conduct the long-range attack. But an official from Ukraine’s SBU security agency said in a written statement that the Ukrainian side had used drones. Kyiv lacks an arsenal of long-range missiles.
Ukraine’s general staff also said it conducted a “successful” attack on a factory in Ivanovo region the day before. The factory makes organic chemicals, components of explosives and powders, as well as additives for rocket and aviation fuel, it said.
Russian air defences destroyed or intercepted well over 100 Ukrainian drones over various Russian regions, including a swarm of drones heading for Moscow, officials said early on Wednesday.
The incidents were similar to waves of Ukrainian drone attacks targeting Moscow and other cities last week.
Russia in the past week also sent waves of drones to attack Ukrainian cities, including what Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy described as the launch of more than 900 drones over a three-day period ending early on June 26.
Team Bharatshakti
(With inputs from Reuters)
