Ukraine Drone Strike Hits Kremlin Bomber Factory in Russia

A serviceman from an aerial reconnaissance platoon of the 108th Independent Brigade of the Ukrainian Territorial Defense Forces is preparing a Leleka-100 UAV for launch in Ukraine, on February 15, 2024. Ukraine’s military reportedly struck a Russian military manufacturing plant in a drone attack early Wednesday morning.

Ukrainian forces struck a factory in eastern Russia charged with producing bomber aircraft for Moscow’s military, according to Kyiv officials.

The Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine (HUR) told Ukrainian news outlets that its drones hit the Gorbunov Aviation Plant in Russia’s Tatarstan region Wednesday morning. The plant, in the region’s capital of Kazan, manufactures missile carriers and special-purpose aircraft, including Tu-22M3 and Tu-160M bombers.

The facility is 435 miles east of Moscow and roughly 808 miles from Ukraine’s border.

HUR sources told the Kyiv Post and Kyiv Independent that Ukraine was still assessing the results of its attack, and no casualties have been reported. Social media users reported Wednesday morning that air raid sirens were heard in the Kazan area before explosions were reported at the aviation plant around 10 a.m. local time, according to RBC-Ukraine.

Russia’s Ministry of Defense reported that it shot down two Ukrainian drones over the Tatarstan and Mordovia regions Wednesday morning. The head of the Mordovia Republic, Artem Zdunov, said on his Telegram channel that one of the drones was shot down around 8 a.m. local time over his region, and thanked “sky defenders for their work.”

Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency also said in a post to Telegram that civilian flights were temporary halted Wednesday morning at the Kazan and Nizhnekamsk airports, both in Tatarstan. The restrictions lasted roughly two hours.

Newsweek was unable to independently verify HUR’s report and reached out to Russia’s Ministry of Defense for comment via email on Wednesday.

Ukraine has ramped up its attacks on Russian soil in recent months, including striking a military radar site in the city of Kovilkino on Wednesday morning. The radio engineering center, which was also hit April 11, is roughly 360 miles from the Ukrainian border.

Russia President Vladimir Putin has said that Ukrainian attacks within Russian territory could be grounds for Moscow to turn to using nuclear weapons in the over two-year war. According to a 2020 presidential decree, conditions for nuclear weapons include attacks “on critical state or military facilities of the Russian Federation.”

An attack on a military base in northern Crimea overnight Wednesday also reportedly killed up to 30 Russian personnel and injured another 80 working at the airfield in Dzhankoy, according to local media reports. Natalia Humeniuk, spokesperson for Ukraine’s southern forces, on Wednesday told Newsweek that Dzhankoy was a legitimate military target but declined to provide further details.

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