Source: Ukraine strikes radar station in Russia's Mordovia Republic

Russian Konteiner radar station in Mordovia Republic. (Russian Defense Ministry)

Editor’s note: This is a developing story and is being updated.

Ukrainian drones attacked a military unit in the city of Kovylkino in Russia’s Mordovia Republic, hitting a Container radar station on April 17, a source in Ukraine’s military intelligence agency (HUR) told the Kyiv Independent.

Earlier the same day, Artem Zdunov, the head of Mordovia Republic, said that a drone had targeted a facility in the region.

The Russian Defense Ministry claimed that Russian air defenses shot down a Ukrainian drone over Mordovia.

Container over-the-horizon radar, which reportedly came under the attack, is capable of detecting targets at distances up to 3,000 kilometers. It is a part of the air and space attack reconnaissance and warning system, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

Earlier, Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) hit a Russian modernized Nebo-U long-range radar system in Bryansk Oblast, a source at SBU told the Kyiv Independent on April 16.

Overnight on April 11, two drones were reportedly shot down over Mordovia, some 800 kilometers from the Ukrainian border, for the first time since Russia’s full-scale invasion.

In early April, Ukrainian forces struck industrial facilities in Tatarstan’s Yelabuga and Nizhnekamsk, a source in Ukraine’s military intelligence agency (HUR) told the Kyiv Independent.

The target reportedly was a manufacturing facility for the Shahed-type attack drones, which Russia regularly uses in attacks against Ukraine, including those targeting civilian and energy infrastructure.

This attack marked one of the deepest strikes on the Russian territory since the start of the full-scale war. Yelabuga lies some 1,300 kilometers away from the Ukrainian border.