Drone hits Russian ballistic missile factory over 1,300 km from Ukraine's border, officials, media report
Editor's Note: This is a developing story.
The Votkinsk Machine Building Plant — a key missile production hub in Russia's Udmurt Republic — was struck during a drone attack late in the evening of Feb. 20, according to local eyewitnesses and Telegram monitoring channels.
The Votkinsk Plant is a strategic, state-owned defense enterprise and one of the most important missile factories in Russia. It produces short-range Iskander-M ballistic missiles — used frequently in attacks against Ukraine — and intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), capable of carrying nuclear warheads as far as the United States.
It is also suspected that the plant produces Russia's new Oreshnik ICBM.
Residents of Votkinsk reported explosions during a nighttime drone attack and said the strike targeted the missile plant. Locals also posted videos to social media showing black smoke rising from the site and shared photos of windows shattered in nearby buildings.
Aleksandr Brechalov, head of the Udmurt Republic, reported that a facility in the region was hit by a Ukrainian drone — though he did not identify the specific target.
"According to operational data, there are damages and casualties," Brechalov said.
The independent Russian Telegram news channel Astra reported that the Votkinsk Plant was hit in the attack, citing analysis of eyewitness footage.
Locals claim that two of the plant's workshops — No. 22 and No. 36 — were damaged by the strike, according to Astra.
The Kyiv Independent could not independently verify the reports at the time of publication.
The Votkinsk Plant has expanded throughout the full-scale war, bypassing international sanctions to hire thousands of new workers, add new buildings, and importing advanced machinery. A Kyiv Independent investigation published in June 2025 previously found that supplies from China, Taiwan, and Belarus — funneled through third-parties to evade sanctions — enabled this expansion.
That expansion translated directly into more devastating missile attacks against Ukrainian cities. In 2024, Russia produced nearly three times more Iskander-M ballistic missiles than in 2023. The year 2025 saw a significant escalation in Russia's aerial assault against Ukraine.
Moscow used Iskander ballistic missiles in its Palm Sunday attack on the northeastern city of Sumy, a strike that killed 34 people, including two children.
The plant is also a major producer of ICBMs, long-range ballistic missiles that can cross oceans armed with nuclear warheads.
Votkinsk lies over 1,300 km (800 miles) from the Ukrainian border in Russia's Udmurt Republic. Ukraine has previously used long-range drones to strike military targets in the region, reporting a successful hit on a weapons factory in Izhevsk in July 2025.
Pro-Ukrainian partisans also reported a sabotage operation at an electrical substation in the Udmurt Republic on Jan. 28. The operation reportedly disrupted the power supply to a nearby military plant.
