Located 550 miles from the nearest Ukrainian-controlled territory, the factory is vital to the Russian war effort. Separately, a swarm of drones attacked the Novo-Yaroslavsky refinery in Yaroslavl and set it on fire. A child was killed and his parents injured by a downed unmanned aircraft.
In Cherepovets, another plant AT Apatit – a major Russian producer of ammonium nitrate used in military explosives – was also affected.
Moscow was forced to impose restrictions on gasoline exports “with the aim of stabilizing prices and ensuring priority supplies to the domestic market.”
Ukraine also carried out precision strikes on the oil exporter ports Ust-Luga and Primorsk, both of which went up in flames this week after Putin’s air defense failed to stop drones, and the second-largest oil refinery, Kirishi.
In Russia’s second city, St Petersburg, there were warnings today about air pollution caused by strikes. The Kremlin also declared the possibility of “force majeure”, with satellite images showing the massacre.
“This is the most serious threat to Russian oil and petroleum products exports since the beginning of the war,” said oil and gas sector analyst Boris Aronstein. Up to 50% of Putin’s oil exports have been affected, he said.
Flamingo missiles are produced domestically and are seen as a major Ukrainian innovation during the war.
Russia retaliated with a brutal overnight attack on civilians in the Black Sea port of Odessa. At least one person was killed and more than a dozen were injured, including a nine-year-old child, in a massive explosion at a tower block in the city.
