Ukraine hits Russian industrial hub in Samara with long-range missiles
Ukrainian forces struck industrial sites in Russia's Samara region, damaging a rocket facility and an air base, as long-range attacks escalate.
Ukraine launched a large-scale missile attack on industrial infrastructure in Russia's southwestern Samara region on Saturday, according to local officials. Ivan Noskov, head of the regional capital Samara, said air defense forces repelled a "massive" missile assault, with "localized damage" reported at industrial sites. He added that medical assistance was provided to those injured but did not specify the number of casualties.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed the strike, saying Kyiv's forces targeted the Progress Center, a facility under Russian space agency Roscosmos that produces rocket technology and electronics. The attack used Ukraine's domestically built Flamingo missiles, striking a site roughly 900 kilometers from the Ukrainian border. Zelenskyy also said Russia's Savasleyka air base, about 700 kilometers from the front line, was hit.
"Peace is needed, and this must be evident in Russia — through concrete damage to specific facilities," Zelenskyy wrote on social media.
The assault reflects Ukraine's broader strategy of ramping up long-range strikes on Russian military industries and energy infrastructure to reduce Moscow's war revenue and bring the conflict home to Russians. While most Ukrainian strikes have a range under 200 kilometers, longer-range attacks have tripled since January, according to data from the conflict monitor ACLED. These deep strikes have forced Russia to stretch its air defenses across a wider area.
Russia's Defense Ministry reported shooting down 598 Ukrainian drones over 19 regions, the Black and Azov Seas, and Crimea. In the Moscow region, a drone attack on a private home in Shatura wounded two people, including a nine-year-old child, said Governor Andrey Vorobyov.
On the Ukrainian side, a Russian strike on an apartment block in the southeastern town of Marhanets killed a three-month-old baby and wounded 11 others, according to regional official Oleksandr Hanzha. Russia's Defense Ministry also said it targeted warehouses and infrastructure at the Ukrainian ports of Odesa, Izmail, and Yuzhnyi. Ukraine's Air Force reported that Russia launched 152 drones over the country on Saturday, of which 124 were destroyed.