Ukraine strikes Moscow region plants and oil facility with drones

The general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces listed several Ukrainian aerial weapons used in strikes on targets in the Moscow region over the weekend, including the RS-1 “Bars” jet-powered UAV, the Firepoint FP-1 winged drone, and a previously unknown model called the Bars-SM Gladiator.

Ukraine’s SBU security service said one strike hit the Angstrom plant in Zelenograd, which produces microcircuits and high-tech components for precision weapons. A fire broke out at the site, the SBU said. It described the plant as a key part of Russia’s military-industrial complex involved in microelectronics, radio electronics, optical systems, and robotics for military use.

The SBU also reported a hit on the Solnechnogorskaya pumping station in the Moscow region, part of the ring oil pipeline around the capital. The station handles pumping, storage, and shipment of large volumes of gasoline and diesel, including fuel for the Russian army. A fire was reported there as well.

The SBU said the strikes reduce Russia’s ability to continue its war. Russian authorities reported at least four people killed and a dozen wounded, and described several impacts as “drone debris.” Early Monday, the Russian defense ministry said its air defenses had shot down 3,124 Ukrainian drones over the past week.

Agence France-Presse journalists were allowed to visit an undisclosed site where Ukraine launched long-range drones in one of the largest such operations of the conflict. They saw battalion members prepare plane-like drones that took off toward Russia, trailing sparks and flames from their rocket boosters.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said taking the war to Moscow was “entirely justified.” In his nightly address, he said Ukrainian troops conducted more combat operations on the battlefield than Russian forces on Sunday, calling it “a very significant result.” He added that a shift in activity on the front lines had become noticeable this year.

Inside Ukraine, the SBU said troops struck a Russian command post in the Bunge area of Donetsk region and enemy UAV control points in the Dvorichnaya area of Kharkiv region, Zavitne in Kherson region, and Udachne in Donetsk region. Ukrainian forces also hit enemy troop concentrations near Myrne in Donetsk region, Krasnohirsk in Zaporizhzhia region, Volfinsky in Russia’s Kursk region, and two sites in the Novoekonomichesky district of Donetsk region.

Odesa region came under a drone attack Sunday night that damaged residential buildings, regional governor Oleh Kiper said. Details on casualties and damage were still being gathered. In Zaporizhzhia region, a Russian attack hit a car and injured a woman and a man. In Kherson region, a drone dropped explosives on a home, killing one man, while eight civilians were injured in attacks on cities and towns.

A suspected Ukrainian military drone crashed in Lithuania on Sunday, the government’s crisis management center said. The drone was unarmed and was not detected on entry, said center chief Vilmantas Vitkauskas. It was found near the village of Samane, 40 km from the Latvian border and 55 km from Belarus. Kyiv has not yet commented.

Latvia’s army said it issued a drone alert along its border with Russia on Sunday morning and summoned NATO fighters. One drone briefly entered Latvian airspace during the alert.

Since March, several stray Ukrainian drones have entered the airspace of NATO members Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. Kyiv has said the drones were aimed at military targets in Russia but were diverted by Russian countermeasures. Latvian Prime Minister Evika Silina dismissed her defense minister after one such incident, which contributed to the collapse of her government.

Robert Brovdi, commander of Ukraine’s drone forces and known as “Madyar,” defended the long-range strikes in an interview with Agence France-Presse. He said sources of funding for Russia’s war effort had become legitimate military targets anywhere in the country, including the south, the Urals, or Siberia. The interview took place before Ukraine launched more than 600 drones into Russia over the weekend.