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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced on Saturday that Ukrainian forces had struck the Progress Rocket and Space Centre” in Russia’s Samara region, a facility involved in the manufacturing and operation of space launch vehicles.
In a post on X, Zelenskyy said Ukraine hit the centre with FP-5 Flamingo cruise missiles, describing it as one of Russian space agency Roscosmos’ “key enterprises” and saying it was involved in “electronics production”.
Additional strikes were carried out on Savasleyka air base in the Nizhny Novgorod region – which the Ukrainian leader said housed aircraft used for missile attacks on Ukraine – and an oil facility in Ust-Luga, close to the border with Estonia, per Zelenskyy.
He shared video footage on X appearing to show the aftermath of some of the strikes. Large columns of black smoke and flames can be seen at sites in the distance.
“Our plan of long-range sanctions against Russia for this war is being implemented, and it is important that Russia’s war potential be reduced,” Zelenskyy wrote.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has since shared more details on the operation as well as its intelligence on the targets, confirming hits were recorded at both the Progress centre and the air base and that a fire had broken out on the facilities’ grounds.
It added that the launch vehicles produced at the Progress centre were used to “place Russian military, reconnaissance, and communications spacecraft into orbit.”
The Savasleyka air base, the General Staff added, is used to operate MiG-31K fighter jets, which it said were used to carry Kh-47M2 Kinzhal ballistic missiles.
Ukraine’s ‘long-range sanctions’ and Russian strikes
Ukraine has repeatedly hit targets deep inside Russia in an effort to increase pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin and the country’s military capabilities and to squeeze the Russian economy.
Kyiv has in particular sought to home in on energy facilities across Russia as part of this strategy, striking oil refineries, terminals, and depots across the country. The attacks have led to fuel shortages across parts of Russia and Russian-occupied territories.
The Ukrainian air force said on Saturday that Russian forces had launched 152 drones and loitering munitions at Ukraine overnight.
“According to preliminary data, as of 9 am, air defences had shot down or neutralised 124 enemy UAVs,” it said, adding that strikes had been recorded in 16 locations.
Russian attacks on the Kherson region in southern Ukraine over the past day injured 28 people, including a child, according to Oleksandr Prokudin, the head of the Kherson Regional Military Administration.
A child was also killed and 11 people were injured in a series of strikes on the Dnipropetrovsk region in southeast Ukraine, per regional governor Oleksandr Hanzha, while four were injured in Sumy Oblast in the country’s north.
A further nine people were injured across the regions of Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kharkiv, per local authorities.