Ukraine drones target major Russian explosive plant

KYIV, Ukraine: Ukraine said on Sunday it had targeted a crucial Russian explosives factory, located about 750 kilometres (470 miles) from the border, in an overnight drone attack.

Kyiv has repeatedly launched drone attacks deep into Russian territory, seeking to hit energy and military sites that it says key to supplying Moscow’s invading army.

A source in the SBU security services said its drones had struck the Sverdlov explosives factory in Dzerzhinsk, just outside the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod.

Russian officials confirmed drones had targeted the area but said the attack had been foiled.

“Air defences and electronic warfare means repelled a drone attack on the territory of the Dzerzhinsk industrial zone,” Nizhny Novgorod regional governor Gleb Nikitin said on Telegram.

“Four employees of the fire station, located on the territory of the industrial enterprise, received light shrapnel wounds,” he added.

The United States and European Union have sanctioned the Sverdlov plant, one of Russia’s largest manufacturers of military explosives.

Footage posted on Russian social media showed a large explosion in the area and small drones being downed by air defence systems.

AFP could not immediately verify the footage.

Kyiv did not say what damage, if any, the attack inflicted on the plant’s production capabilities.

Moscow’s defence ministry said earlier it had downed 110 Ukrainian drones that had been fired at its territory overnight, the largest attempted aerial barrage by Ukraine in two weeks.

Russia also launched a wave of attacks on Ukraine.

Kyiv said they targeted residential areas.

At least 17 people were wounded in an attack on the Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rig, including a first responder, the state emergency services said.

Russia also attacked an energy facility in the northeastern Sumy region, the regional power operator Sumyoblenergo said on Telegram, knocking out electricity for more than 37,000 consumers.

Ukraine is bracing for its toughest winter of the war yet.

Russia has destroyed swathes of its generating capacity and continues to strike energy sites, at a time when temperatures have dropped towards freezing across the country.

Separately, Russian aviation authorities temporarily closed the Kazan airport, around 1,000 kilometres from the Ukraine border, on Sunday morning, citing air safety concerns.

The Rosaviatsia agency did not provide a reason for the suspension of flights, although such restrictions are typically imposed when there are reports of Ukrainian drone attacks in the area.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to meet the leaders of China, Brazil and Turkey in the city later this week for the BRICS summit, the biggest gathering of Moscow’s allies and partners inside the country since it invaded Ukraine in February 2022.