Ukraine strikes Russian rocket plant in Samara overnight

Ukraine struck the Progress Rocket Space Centre in Samara, Russia’s main production hub for Soyuz-2 rockets and military satellites, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed. The Times of India reports that Kyiv used domestically made FP-5 Flamingo cruise missiles, which have a range of up to 1,860 miles, in what Russian authorities called a “massive attack”. Social media footage showed smoke rising from the TsSKB-Progress complex, with local leader Ivan Noskov reporting casualties and “localised damage” to industrial infrastructure.

Zelenskyy said the strike aimed to reduce Russia’s war potential. The facility is central to Russia’s Rassvet satellite network, built as a rival to Elon Musk’s Starlink system, which Ukraine relies on for communications and drones. Ukraine also hit the Savasleyka military airfield in Nizhny Novgorod, home to MiG-31K jets that launch Kinzhal hypersonic missiles, and targeted Iskander missile sites in occupied Crimea. Russian forces retaliated with a strike on Marhanets in Dnipropetrovsk, killing a three-month-old boy and wounding others.

The attacks come as Ukrainian forces push Russian units out of most of the Dnipropetrovsk region after a seven-month counteroffensive. A Russian military channel acknowledged a “temporary withdrawal”. Both sides continue to use long-range weapons against military infrastructure far from the front line.