Ukraine’s Long-Range Drones Hit Multiple Russian Arms Plants, Killing Three

Ukraine has carried out a wave of long-range drone strikes on Russian military-industrial facilities since 1 July, extending the war’s reach hundreds of kilometres beyond the front line. Targets included plants that produce air-defence systems, drone warheads and other military components in the regions of Izhevsk, Lipetsk, Moscow, Belgorod and Rostov, according to Ukrainian military statements and regional Russian officials.

The first attack, on 1 July, hit the Kupol Electromechanical Plant in Izhevsk—about 1,000 km east of Moscow—killing three people and injuring at least 35, Udmurtia governor Aleksandr Brechalov said. Ukrainian security officials said the facility manufactures air-defence systems and drones for Russia’s armed forces.

On 3 July, Ukraine’s armed forces said their drones struck the Energia battery and accumulator plant in the Lipetsk region, as well as a nearby military airfield. Russia has not confirmed damage or casualties from that incident.

The most prominent strike came early on 4 July, when Ukraine’s General Staff confirmed hitting the FNPC Research Institute of Applied Chemistry in Sergiev Posad, just northeast of Moscow. The plant develops thermobaric warheads for Russia’s domestically produced Shahed-type attack drones; video from the scene showed a large fire and thick smoke. Later the same day, local media reported fires after drone impacts at the Selena chemical reagents plant in Shebekino, Belgorod region, and at the Azov Optical-Mechanical Plant in Rostov Oblast, which makes optics for tanks and aircraft.

Kyiv says the operations are intended to degrade Russia’s strike capacity after Moscow launched a record 5,438 drones against Ukraine in June. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has made scaling up domestic drone production a priority, while Moscow continues to report intercepting dozens of Ukrainian unmanned aircraft each night. The back-and-forth underscores the central role drones now play in the conflict’s third year.