Ukraine’s military says it has struck one of Russia’s main explosives factory as well as an oil terminal in Russian-occupied Crimea.
“Numerous explosions” were reported after the strike at the Y M Sverdlov plant in Dzerzhinsk, which makes explosives for ammunition for Russia’s armed forces, the Ukrainian general staff said in a statement.
The attacks were carried out as part of a strategy to reduce Russia‘s “offensive potential, as well as its missile and bomb capabilities”, the general staff said.
It added that the plant was one of Moscow’s largest producers of explosives, which are used in a wide variety of ammunition for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces, including aviation and artillery shells, fighter jet bombs, anti-tank guided missiles and warheads for air defence missile systems.
Regional governor Gleb Nikitin said air defence forces had repelled an overnight attack by 20 drones near Dzerzhinsk. He said one person was injured by falling debris.
Mr Nikitin said there was fire damage to residential homes but “no damage was caused to industrial facilities”.
Sky News’s security and defence editor Deborah Haynes has described the targeting of the factory as “huge”.
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Ukraine also targeted an oil depot in Crimea, with footage shared by local media on X appearing to show the scale of the attack in the city of Feodosia as flames rose from the depot.
The blaze was started after a fuel tank at the depot exploded.
Ukrainian forces also hit an ammunition depot in Crimea, but military officials said the results of the strike were “still being clarified”.
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Attack on Ukraine
It comes after at least five people were killed in a massive Russian missile and drone attack on Ukraine over the weekend, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
The Ukrainian president said Russia launched more than 50 missiles and around 500 attack drones – with the regions of Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Zaporizhzhia, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Kherson, Odesa, and Kirovohrad all targeted.
Four family members were killed in the western region of Lviv, which borders Poland, where an industrial park was set ablaze.
One person in the southeastern region of Zaporizhzhia was killed, the region’s governor said.
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Mr Zelenskyy said around 10 people were also injured in the strikes. Many civilians have also been left without power, including more than 73,000 in Zaporizhzhia.
Ukraine’s energy ministry said facilities had been damaged in Zaporizhzhia and the northern Chernihiv region.
Russia’s defence ministry said on Sunday its forces had struck Ukrainian military-industrial facilities as well as gas and energy infrastructure overnight.
Moscow has stepped up strikes on Ukraine’s energy grid in recent weeks as winter approaches.
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Mr Zelenskyy said: “The Russians once again targeted our infrastructure – everything that ensures normal life for our people.
“We need more protection and faster implementation of all defence agreements, especially on air defence, to deprive this aerial terror of any meaning.
“A unilateral ceasefire in the skies is possible – and it is precisely that which could open the way to real diplomacy.
“America and Europe must act to make Putin stop.”
