Kamikaze drone takes out missile factory in major blow for Putin
The plant is currently used to repair military equipment for use in Putin’s war against Ukraine.
A Ukrainian kamikaze drone has hit a Russian missile factory, causing an explosion and fire to rip through the building.
Footage shows the blast ripping through the roof of a workshop at the Smolensk Aviation Plant in western Russia, where Kh-59 missiles are reportedly produced.
This is the second time Ukraine has targeted this specific factory – though Russia claims to have suppressed the most recent drone before it hit its target.
Local sources claim the fire is now under control.
Another drone was reportedly shot down in the Zadneprovsky district of Smolensk.
Kh-59 missiles are among the most heavily used by Vladimir Putin to attack Ukraine.
Ukraine claimed its early October strike disrupted production of the cruise missile at the plant.
The plant is currently used to repair military equipment for use in Putin’s war against Ukraine, it is understood.
Separately, a major explosion and fire hit a Russian plant making engines for Vladimir Putin’s tanks and armoured vehicles.
Footage showed the inferno at the Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant in the Urals, after a powerful ‘explosion’ was reported by locals.
The Chelyabinsk plant is under US and Ukrainian sanctions as ‘an enterprise specialising in the production of diesel engines for military equipment for the needs of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation’.
The factory is a key supplier for a range of key military firepower such as the T-72, T-90 Proryv tanks, the BMPT Terminator, Akatsiya self-propelled artillery units, and the Msta-S and Koalitsiya-SV complexes.
The initial Russian explanation was a transformer explosion caused by a ‘short circuit’ – which is currently used to explain any fire at a key installation in Russia.
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