Ukraine: Drone footage captures fighting around Zaporozhye front
A devastating blaze at a plant that makes technology for Russian missiles broke out after the second Ukrainian strike on the factory, dealing a major blow to Vladimir Putin’s war machine.
Footage of the moment a major fire broke out at the Kremniy EL factory this week has surfaced online. It marks the second time the Bryansk-based plant has been targeted in a strike in a matter of days.
The facility is one of the largest microelectronics plants in Russia and is understood to make microchips for Russia’s lethal Iskander ballistic missiles.
More than 40 firefighters reportedly raced to extinguish the giant flames sparked by the pinpoint kamikaze drone strike.
Two Ukrainian weapons were allegedly aimed at the plant in the city of Bryansk, which lies near the border with Ukraine.
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READ MORE Drone strikes hit Russian microchip factory at heart of Putin’s war machine
One was reportedly downed by Russian defences. The other came crashing into the plant, dealing a major blow to the Kremlin’s war effort.
Michael Bociurkiw, global affairs analyst and senior fellow at The Atlantic Council, told Daily Express US the microchip factory was a significant target.
Ukraine has seemingly taken a new approach to the war as it targets war-related infrastructure to batter Moscow’s military machine.
Last week, army bases and planes, and a feul depot were among facilities also hit in a damaging wave of attacks.
Bociurkiw said: “We are looking at various types of targets, for example, the very aircraft used to bomb Ukrainian cities and kill civilians. And targets that help supply the Putin war machine such as these factories.
“The strikes were brilliantly, strategically thought out but when you tie this together, they are meant to weaken the ability of Russia to push more aggression into Ukraine.”
Sam Bendett, an expert on Russian military technology at the Center for International and Strategic Studies, told Daily Express US this is a huge step forward from Ukraine’s previous attacks on the Russian capital.
He said: “The latest mass-scale strike on Russia is indicative of how Ukraine should be attacking Russian facilities and assets.
“While Moscow is a definitive demonstration of Ukrainian capabilities and it is certainly terrifying for people in Moscow and can certainly slow down business and government developments, it ultimately doesn’t affect the outcome of the war.”
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This shows Ukraine is now capable of striking targets “deep inside Russia”, Bendett added.
He said: “But attacking military bases, military assets, weapons, production facilities, oil facilities and other assets that actually aid the war effort are very effective. All the strikes before were demonstrative of Ukraine’s ability to reach deep inside Russia.
“Ukraine’s latest strike is a culmination of that. Now they can hit a lot of targets in the European part of Russia where the bulk of its industries and populations and infrastructure are located to try and go after the very war effort itself.”
Alexander Lord, Lead Europe-Eurasia analyst at Sibylline, said the Ukrainian strategy is “pretty clear”.
He told Daily Express US: “They [Ukraine] are trying to degrade Russia’s ability to launch large-scale missile strikes against Ukraine. This has been a priority for the Ukrainians but up until recently their ability to actually undermine this capability has been fairly limited.”
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