(Reuters) -Ukraine struck a manufacturer of military explosives deep inside Russian territory overnight, as well as storage infrastructure at a military airfield in the Lipetsk region, Kyiv’s General Staff said in a statement on Sunday.
Russian air defence units downed 110 Ukrainian drones over the country, Russia’s defence ministry said, including one over the Moscow region, 43 over the border region of Kursk, and 27 over southwestern Lipetsk region.
The Russian SHOT Telegram channel reported that drones attempted to strike the Ya. M. Sverdlov State Owned Enterprise in Dzerzhinsk city, Nizhny Novgorod region, about 400 km (250 miles) east of Moscow.
The explosives plant, one of the largest manufacturers of its kind used by Russian forces in the war that Moscow launched against Ukraine in February 2022, is subject to sanctions by the United States and the European Union.
Kyiv’s General Staff said it was still assessing the damage from its attack.
Four firefighters received minor shrapnel wounds in a drone attack on an industrial zone in Dzerzhinsk city, the region’s governor said, without specifying the target of the attack.
The Russian defence ministry said on Telegram that eight Ukrainian drones were destroyed over Nizhny Novgorod. Residents reported powerful explosions and white smoke in the area of the plant, SHOT reported.
Reuters could not independently verify the reports.
Moscow’s Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Telegram that debris fell in the Ramensky district of Moscow region but there was no damage or casualties.
Kyiv has often said its air attacks target infrastructure key to Russia’s war efforts and are a response to Moscow’s continued air attacks on Ukraine.
Russian officials often do not disclose full extent of damage inflicted by the drone attacks, especially on military, transport or energy infrastructure.
(Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Additional reporting by Dan Peleschuk; Editing by Stephen Coates and Hugh Lawson)
