Ukraine strikes explosive factory, airfield deep in Russian territory
- 20 October, 10:23
Ukraine has claimed it struck Russia’s “largest explosive plant” and an airfield on Sunday. Ukrainian drones struck the large state-owned Sverdlov Plant in Dzerzhinsk city in Nizhny Novgorod region, some 900 kilometers deep Russia, Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) said.
Sverdlov Plant is a state-owned enterprise that produces explosives, industrial chemicals, detonators, and ammunition. The factory has been under the US and EU sanctions since 2023 over what the US State Department has described as “acquiring goods in support of Russia's war effort." "The SBU worked on strengthening the sanctions against the Sverdlov plant," a source within the SBU told local media.
Gleb Nikitin, the governor of Nizhny Novgorod region where the plant is located wrote in a post on Telegram app that the attack was repelled by air-defense systems and four firefighters were injured by shrapnel.
On the same day, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forced reported that Ukraine had also struck the Lipetsk-2 airfield in the Lipetsk region, located over 400 kilometers from the Ukrainian border. The operation was carried out by Ukraine’s Security Service jointly with Ukraine's military intelligence agency (HUR), and the Special Operations Forces, a source within the intelligence service said. The attack in Lipetsk targeted ammunition depots, fuel storage facilities and aircraft on an airfield known to be home to Russian Su-34, Su-35 and MiG-31 aircraft, it added.
Ukraine has stepped up attacks on military facilities deep in Russian territory. The country’s EU partners have so far rejected Kyiv’s request to allow using Western weapons in attacks on Russian territory.
