Russia suffered a new night of hell as Ukraine signalled its new advantage in the war. Volodymyr Zelensky’s forces sent FP-5 Flamingo cruise missiles on a 1,000 mile mission to massively damage a key Putin military plant in Cheboksary. Amid a night of failures by Russian air defences, another refinery – Novokuibyshevsk – was also blitzed in the Samara region.
Two more oil facilities named Lobkovo and Vtorovo, linked to pumping fuel to Moscow and northwestern Russia, were struck and damaged by Ukrainian drones in the Vladimir region, risking further petrol pump shortages. In a key strike, Ukraine blocked traffic by damaging another bridge connecting the Arabat Spit to the mainland in the Kherson region as part of a bombing campaign that is curtailing Putin’s supply access to the jewel of his Ukrainian invasion – the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which he has held since 2014.
Night time trains were halted in Crimea in a curfew as the popular peninsula starts to become a no-go area for Russian tourists in a major blow to the Kremlin. Tourists are in queues more than a mile long for petrol in Yalta and Alupka resorts.
Key naval port Sevastopol – in Crimea – was also hit in the overnight onslaught. Attack warning sirens were blaring in three major cities in mid morning Tyumen in Siberia, as well as Yekaterinburg and Kazan.
This follows Ukraine forcing the humiliating retreat of Putin’s special forces from the Kinburn Spit, a strategic peninsula vital to control of a swathe of the Black Sea coastline.
The hit on the VNIIR-Progress plant in Cheboksary left the main building a ruin.
The factory makes guidance and navigation systems for Russian missiles including Iskander-M and Kalibr missiles as well as drones and glide bombs.
One Ukrainian domestically produced Flamingo missile was reportedly shot down but the plant was hit by at least one more. The missiles flew low across Russia at a height of around 330ft to make the attack.
Russian forces staged attacks overnight on Ukrainian cities Kharkiv and Odesa.
This comes as a new estimate shows Russia now suffering 300 soldiers a day killed, with hundreds more wounded.
The calculation is from the German Institute for International Security Issues. Ukraine has sent a target of “eliminating 50,000 occupiers per month”.
