Russian Arms Factory Hundreds of Miles from Ukraine Hit in Drone Strike

A Russian military manufacturing site was hit in a drone attack overnight, according to a Russian and a Ukrainian official, as Moscow launched a large-scale missile and drone campaign across Ukraine.

Andriy Kovalenko, an official with Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, said on Sunday that drones had attacked a manufacturing plant in Izhevsk, the capital of Russia’s Udmurt Republic. He did not directly attribute the attack to Kyiv, while Ukrainian media described the targeted facility as more than 800 miles into Moscow’s territory.

Kyiv has frequently launched long-range drone attacks several hundreds of miles from its border into Russia, targeting infrastructure it says props up Moscow’s war effort. Ukraine is not allowed to use Western-provided long-range equipment to launch these strikes on key targets, which have included air bases, oil refineries and ammunition storage sites.

Ukraine has developed its long-range capabilities domestically, meaning the restrictions placed on Western weapons by Kyiv’s supporters don’t apply. Ukraine is developing a new long-range ballistic missile and said it had successfully tested its Palianytsia missile-drone in late August.

Russia’s Defense Ministry did not report any attacks on the Udmurt region overnight, but said Ukraine had launched drone strikes on the border Kursk, Bryansk and Belgorod regions, followed later by attacks on the Oryol region and further drones above Belgorod.

Udmurt Regional Governor Alexander Brechalov said in a post to messaging app Telegram that a drone had “crashed” at an unspecified “factory workshop” on a street in the city of Izhevsk. One person was injured and taken to hospital, Brechalov said, while the rest of the staff at the facility were evacuated.

“The windows at the plant were broken, but there was no serious damage,” the governor said.

Russian independent outlet Astra reported that drones had attacked the Kupol defense plant in the city. “We should have thought about it earlier, when the factories were churning out drones in the middle of the city,” one unnamed resident told the Astra outlet.

The pro-Kremlin Shot Telegram channel posted footage it said showed the moment a drone struck the facility. Newsweek could not independently verify the clip.

The Kupol defense plant produces short-range Russian surface-to-air missile systems, as well as products including equipment for nuclear power plants, Russian state news agency has previously reported.

“Russia produces the Tor air defense system” at the site, as well as radars and other unspecified parts, Kovalenko said. The Tor has been used extensively in Ukraine, and has been repeatedly targeted by Kyiv.

Newsweek has reached out to the Ukrainian military and Russian Defense Ministry for comment via email.

Separately on Sunday, Ukrainian officials said Moscow had launched a large-scale aerial attack, with air defenses activated in the vast majority of the country’s regions.

Moscow launched “a massive, combined attack” of around 120 missiles and 90 drones across Ukraine, targeting the country’s energy infrastructure, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a statement.

Ukraine’s air force said Russia had fired one Zircon hypersonic cruise missile, eight Kinzhal aeroballistic missiles, and more than 100 Kalibr and Kh-101 cruise missiles as well as several other types. Ukraine downed 102 of the missiles and 42 of the drones, the air force said.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said it had carried out a “a massive strike with high-precision, long-range air- and sea-based weapons and strike drones” in the early hours of Sunday.

Moscow targeted Kyiv’s “critical energy infrastructure facilities that supported the operation of Ukraine’s military-industrial complex and enterprises producing military products,” the Russian government said. “All planned targets were hit.”

“Unfortunately, some facilities sustained damage from direct hits and falling debris,” Zelensky said.