Ukraine Steps Up Long-Range Strikes on Russian Industrial Sites

A large-scale Ukrainian attack has struck industrial infrastructure in Russia’s southwestern Samara region, according to Ivan Noskov, head of the region’s capital, Samara.

Noskov stated that air defense forces had repelled a ‘massive’ missile attack, with ‘localized damage’ to the city’s industrial sites. Medical assistance has been provided to those injured in the attack, but further details were not given.

This attack is part of Ukraine’s intensified efforts to cut Moscow’s revenue for the war and make Russians feel the consequences of the invasion, now in its fifth year.

Domestically Produced Flamingo Missiles Used in the Attack

Writing on social media, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed that Kyiv’s forces had carried out a strike against Samara’s Progress Center, which operates under Russian space agency Roscosmos and is involved in producing rocket technology and electronics.

Zelenskyy revealed that the strike used Ukraine’s domestically produced Flamingo missiles to hit the site, approximately 900 kilometers (560 miles) from the Ukrainian border.

Additionally, Zelenskyy stated that Russia’s Savasleyka air base, some 700 kilometers (430 miles) from the front line, had also been hit.

Zelenskyy emphasized the need for peace, saying that it must be evident in Russia ‘through concrete damage to specific facilities.’

Increased Long-Range Strikes by Ukraine

While most of Ukraine’s strikes have a range of less than 200 kilometers (125 miles), its longer-range attacks have increased dramatically this year.

According to data from ACLED, an independent conflict monitor, Ukraine launched three times as many of those strikes in July as it did in January.

Repeatedly hitting deep into Russia has forced its military to stretch air defenses over a larger area.

Russia’s Response to the Attacks

Russia’s Ministry of Defense stated that it had shot down 598 Ukrainian drones over 19 Russian regions, as well as the Black and Azov Seas and the annexed Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea.

Separately, two people, including a nine-year-old child, were wounded when a Ukrainian drone attack hit a private home in the town of Shatura in the Moscow region.

Local Gov. Andrey Vorobyov confirmed the incident, saying that the Ukrainian drone attack had caused damage to a private home.

Elsewhere, a Russian strike on an apartment block in southeastern Ukraine Saturday killed a three-month-old baby and wounded 11 people, local officials said.

Oleksandr Hanzha, head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Military Administration, stated that drones hit the building in the town of Marhanets.

Russia’s Ministry of Defense also said that it had targeted warehouses and infrastructure at the Ukrainian ports of Odesa, Izmail and Yuzhnyi.

Ukraine’s Air Force stated that Russia launched 152 drones over the country Saturday, of which 124 were destroyed.

As tensions between Ukraine and Russia continue to escalate, the international community is closely monitoring the situation.

The recent attacks by Ukraine on Russian industrial sites have raised concerns about the potential consequences of the ongoing conflict.