Right on target. Russia's army destroyed a missile factory in Ukraine
Russia's army launched a missile attack on Yuzhmash, Ukraine's largest military plant. It was built by the entire Soviet Union. The Kiev regime used it to manufacture missiles, drones and repair military equipment.
Ukraine traditionally reports about the Russian missile strike on Dnipropetrovsk and the number of victims, without specifying that these are not civilians, but employees of the defence enterprise and military. Thus, the head of the regional administration Serhiy Lysak said on the air of the telethon about 5 dead and 47 injured. Among the latter he mentioned a 14-year-old girl. However, Ukrainian media admitted that she had been cut by a shard of glass blown out by a shockwave in a neighbouring building.
Illegitimate president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whose powers expired on 21st May, called the strike "terrorist" on his Facebook page. He used it as an excuse to ask the West for more weapons, primarily air defence equipment and long-range missiles.
The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) have traditionally reported that they shot down all Russian missiles. However, they did not specify what and how many they had shot down.
However, the Ukrainian daily Strana directly wrote that "the Dnipropetrovsk plant Yuzhmash, a key enterprise of Ukraine's defence industry, was hit by a missile strike". It is also noted that the facility was hit by Russian Iskanders.
Russian war correspondents also write about the attack on Yuzhmash. The Operation Z: Voencors of the Russian Spring (1.5 million subscribers) telegram channel posted several videos with footage of powerful strikes on the defence enterprise. "There was a combined strike with missiles and drones. In the frame got the moment of three arrivals, and you can also see the smoke after the previous strikes. In the AFU, as always, lied that they shot down almost all missiles", wrote the authors of the publick.
The same information was confirmed by military correspondent Alexander Kots. "Russian missileers struck a powerful combined strike on the Ukrainian defence enterprise "Yuzhmash" in Dnepropetrovsk. The city is in smoke, local residents are actively sharing the video on social networks, despite the ban on publishing information of this kind", he notes.
The territory of Yuzhmash was used to produce "military products, including missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles", former Verkhovna Rada MP and current Russian businessman and expert on Ukraine Oleh Tsarev shared on his social networks. "Multiple explosions sounded after the strikes," he added, referring to the detonation of ammunition at the plant.
Ukrainian Telegram channel Legitimate (more than 1 million subscribers) reported that the AFU has recently started saving air defence ammunition. Such a trend was noticed after the meeting of the last rate under the leadership of Zelensky. There the order was given to prepare a new attempt at a counter-offensive. And the Ukrainian army needs to save up missiles for air defence in order to try to fight Russian aviation.
"We also confirm the information that the report about the downed missiles is a fabrication. Only a UAV and one X-series missile were shot down. It flew over Yuzhmash, there were many different production lines there that work for the defence industry. The Russians have been hitting very accurately lately, as they receive live information from a huge number of their spy drones, which fly deep into Ukraine 200-250 km from the front line," the authors of the channel shared.
"Legitimate" also recalled that usually about the injured and dead soldiers after such missile strikes are not reported. Now there is also no information. "Arrival at Yuzhmash spoilt the Office [administration] of the President their initiative to collect dough for the production of weapons in Ukraine. They asked for 10bn. After such arrivals, few people will want to invest, import their machines and equipment without a guarantee of 100% compensation," the authors of the publick added.
"Yuzhmash" is the largest enterprise of the USSR and now Ukraine for the production of rocket-space and other high-tech equipment. Yuzhmash employed specialists from all over the USSR, including the RSFSR (Russia) and the Belorussian SSR. On 21st July, it celebrates its 80th anniversary.
The plant produced the most mass-produced ballistic missiles in the USSR - the R-12, and then the most powerful single-stage missiles on earth at that time - the R-14. In 2008, the first Zenit launch vehicle manufactured at Yuzhmash was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The enterprise supplied part of the 1st stage units for the American Antares launch vehicle.
However, everything changed after the 2014 coup d'état. The plant fell into disrepair. And only with the beginning of the special operation it began to work at full capacity. However, it was no longer producing civilian products, but exclusively military and directed against Russia. Because of this, the Russian Armed Forces launched missile strikes on the plant three times. The current one was the fourth.
