Russia targets Ukraine’s decision-making centers – MOD
The Russian military has carried out long-range strikes on Ukrainian command and control facilities and its defense industrial base, according to the Defense Ministry in Moscow.
In a statement on Tuesday, the ministry said that over the past 24 hours, Moscow’s forces had unleashed a wave of high-precision strikes using sea- and land-based weapons, as well as drones, on Ukrainian targets.
This includes Kiev’s “decision-making centers, facilities of the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU),” as well as defense-oriented enterprises, officials said, adding that the barrage was also aimed at deployment areas where Ukrainian nationalist military units and foreign mercenaries were present.
“All facilities have been hit. The goals of the strike have been accomplished,” the Defense Ministry said.
Defense officials also noted that the Russian military had destroyed 131 Ukrainian drones, two repurposed S-200 air defense missiles, and 15 Western-supplied HIMARS and Vampire missiles in the past 24 hours.
On Monday, Ukrainian media reported several explosions in Kiev and the port city of Odessa. The Kyiv Post reported, citing sources, that the strike on the Ukrainian capital used two missiles launched from Russia’s Crimean Peninsula and targeted premises where high-ranking SBU officials were located. The Ukrainian Air Force claimed that both missiles were shot down.
This comes after a major Russian attack last week which targeted Ukraine’s military and energy infrastructure, which also undermined Kiev’s ability to produce, repair, and deliver arms to the front line.
Local officials said the barrage knocked out the Dnieper hydroelectric power plant in the Kiev-controlled city of Zaporozhye, while causing widespread blackouts across the country. Kharkov Mayor Igor Terekhov said at the time that the strike was so overwhelming that the city ended up “fully without power.”
Russia first started targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in the autumn of 2022 in response to the bombing of the strategic Crimean Bridge in October of that year. While Kiev initially denied it was responsible for the attack, it later admitted its involvement, saying it sought to undermine Russian logistics.
