Ukraine's military also says it has struck a Russian oil refinery and a "shadow fleet" oil tanker in the Black Sea.
21 hours ago
Jaroslav Lukiv
Reuters
Ukrainian forces have carried out a missile attack deep inside Russia, hitting a major military plant overnight, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said.
He said FP-5 Flamingo cruise missiles struck the drone and missile plant in the city of Cheboksary, in the Chuvash Republic, more than 900km (560 miles) from the front line. Local officials said three people were injured in a missile attack on the city.
Ukraine also said it had hit the Moscow-occupied port of Mariupol on the Sea of Azov, a Russian oil refinery in Samara and a "shadow fleet" oil tanker in the Black Sea.
In recent months, Ukraine's military has intensified its drone strikes on key facilities across Russia.
Kyiv says energy sites are legitimate targets, as they allow Moscow to continue its war effort. However, missile attacks deep inside Russia have been rare.
Reuters
Russia's military said that its air defence units had intercepted or shot down 326 Ukrainian drones over a number of regions overnight.
Meanwhile, Ukraine's air force said it downed 181 out of 207 drones fired by Russia during that time. It also admitted 21 direct hits in 14 locations.
At least two people were killed and 26 injured, including two children, in four Ukrainian regions in the past 24 hours, local officials said.
In a post on Telegram on Wednesday, President Zelensky wrote: "Overnight, Ukrainian FP-5 Flamingos hit a military plant in Cheboksary that supplies the occupier's army with components for drones and missiles".
He also published footage said to be showing a missile flying toward its target and plumes of smoke from a facility.
Ukraine's military later said the VNIIR-Progress plant had been struck and there had been a fire at the site.
Chuvash Republic head Oleg Nikolaev confirmed that Cheboksary had been hit, reporting three injuries. He did not say whether the military plant was damaged.
The FP-5 Flamingo missile has a 1,150kg (2,535lbs) warhead and a reported range of 3,000km, putting Russia's capital Moscow and other major cities well within its range.
Together with its Western allies, Ukraine has also been actively developing other types of missiles in order to maximise the costs of Russia's full-scale invasion launched in 2022 and force Moscow to seek a settlement.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has so far rejected all negotiation proposals.
The Kremlin leader also insisted that Russian troops were advancing everywhere on the vast front line - although evidence shows that the front has been virtually static in the past several months.
France, Germany and other European Union member states are discussing a sweeping overhaul of the bloc's 15-year-old diplomatic service to improve its response to geopolitical crises, the Financial Times reported on June 11.
Ukraine’s decision to honor a military unit with the title “Heroes of the UPA” has reignited tensions with Poland, where the UPA is associated with wartime massacres of Polish civilians. While some argue the dispute should not overshadow current cooperation against Russia, critics see it as a barrie
One year after taking responsibility for its own sector of the front, Ukraine’s Third Army Corps says it has stabilized a 150-kilometer frontline while introducing new command structures, expanding drone and robotic warfare capabilities. Commanders describe the corps as a model for how the Ukrainian
Ukrainian drones struck the Dzhankoy railway station in occupied Crimea on June 8 while a large number of Russian troops were there, and the station has remained closed since then, Denys Chystikov, deputy representative of Ukraine’s president in Crimea, told Radio NV.