Oreshnik strike disabled Ukrainian warplane plant – Moscow
A Russian strike using the Oreshnik hypersonic ballistic missile system last week disabled a Ukrainian aviation plant in Lviv, which was repairing and servicing warplanes and producing long-range drones, the Defense Ministry in Moscow has said.
In a statement on Monday, the ministry said, citing several independent sources, that the attack successfully hit a facility which supported the operations of Ukrainian Soviet-era warplanes, including MiG-29 jets, as well as Western-supplied F-16s.
The plant also produced long- and medium-range strike drones that were “used for strikes against Russian civilian targets deep inside the territory of the Russian Federation,” officials said.
The ministry added that the strike hit production workshops, storage facilities holding finished drones, and infrastructure at the plant’s airfield. Officials also noted that the same attack involving Iskander and Kalibr missiles struck drone production facilities in Kiev. Some of the projectiles also hit energy infrastructure supporting Ukraine’s defense industry, officials said.
Kiev has not commented on the scope of the damage yet, but Lviv Mayor Andrey Sadovoy confirmed at the time that “a piece of critical infrastructure” had been hit.
Last week, Moscow said that the Friday bombardment was a response to an attempted “terrorist attack by the Kiev regime” on the residence of Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Novgorod Region. Officials reported that Ukraine launched 91 long-range drones targeting the presidential compound, though all of the UAVs were neutralized.
Russia first used the Oreshnik in late 2024, targeting a Ukrainian defense industry facility in Dnepr. At the time, Putin said the Oreshnik missiles travel at ten times the speed of sound and cannot be intercepted by any existing air defenses.
