KYIV: Ukraine says it has carried out a series of long range strikes on important Russian military and industrial targets, including the Progress Rocket and Space Centre in the Samara region.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday that Ukrainian forces used FP-5 Flamingo cruise missiles to strike the facility, located about 900 kilometres from Ukraine’s border. He described Progress as one of the key enterprises of Russia’s Roscosmos space agency and said it was involved in electronics production, according to EuroNews.
Ukraine’s General Staff later said that direct hits were recorded at the Progress centre and that a fire broke out at the site. It said rockets made there were used to place Russian military, reconnaissance and communications satellites into orbit. Kyiv also says the centre is linked to Russia’s developing Rassvet satellite network, which is intended to provide an alternative to Starlink.
The reported attack was part of a wider operation. Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces also struck Savasleyka air base in the Nizhny Novgorod region, where MiG-31K fighter jets are based. According to Ukraine’s military, these aircraft can carry Kinzhal ballistic missiles, which have been used in attacks on Ukrainian cities.
An oil facility in Ust-Luga, near Estonia, was also targeted, Zelenskyy said. Video footage shared by the Ukrainian president appeared to show flames and thick columns of smoke rising from distant sites. Russian officials acknowledged missile attacks and reported damage to industrial infrastructure but did not confirm all of Kyiv’s claims.
Zelenskyy called the strikes part of Ukraine’s “long-range sanctions” campaign, aimed at weakening Russia’s military strength and placing pressure on its economy.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 152 drones and loitering weapons overnight. It reported that 124 were destroyed or neutralised, although strikes were recorded in 16 locations.
Russian attacks across Ukraine killed one child and injured dozens of people in Kherson, Dnipropetrovsk, Sumy, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv, according to regional authorities.
