Russia has carried out major missile and drone strikes against Ukrainian military-industrial facilities, the Defense Ministry in Moscow has announced.
The attack, which took place early on Wednesday, targeted Ukrainian enterprises involved in the production of naval drones, coastal missile systems, munitions for multiple rocket launch systems, and explosives, according to a statement by the ministry.
It was carried out with the use of high-precision long-range air and sea-based weapons, as well as aerial drones, it added.
“The goal of the strike has been achieved. All targets were hit,” the ministry stressed.
As for the situation on the front line, the figures provided by the ministry suggest that Ukrainian forces lost at least 1,055 troops in the 24 hour period before the statistics were compiled.
The Russian military was able to further improve its positions in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), the statement read.
Russian air-defense forces shot down a Ukrainian MiG-25 fighter jet near the village of Alekseevka in DPR, the ministry claimed. Elsewhere along the contact line, two US-supplied M777 towed howitzers and an American Paladin self-propelled gun were destroyed along with other hardware, it added.
Earlier on Wednesday, Polish media reported that its military had scrambled its F16s in the southeastern part of the country due the Russian strikes on Ukrainian targets.
“Intense activity of Russian long-range aviation associated with missile strikes on Ukrainian territory” was observed, the Polish Operational Command said in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
It was later reported that the jets had returned to base. The command said the military “monitors the situation in Ukraine on an ongoing basis and remains constantly ready to ensure the safety of Polish airspace.”
Ukrainian news outlets and social media accounts reported explosions in the Ukrainian capital Kiev, the country’s second-largest city Kharkov, Nikolaev, Dnepropetrovsk (known as Dnepr in Ukraine), and other locations on Wednesday.
Last week, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said that in January, Russian forces carried out 127 airstrikes with high-precision weapons against Ukraine’s military infrastructure and defense industry facilities.
Moscow has repeatedly said that its forces, “unlike the Kiev regime,” do not target social infrastructure, residential areas or civilians.