Machine factory caught fire after strike on Russian-occupied Luhansk, governor says
A purported Ukrainian strike against occupied Luhansk on Aug. 4 resulted in a fire in a factory used to repair and store Russian military equipment, said regional governor Artem Lysohor.
The Factory 100 suffered damage as a result of the "poor work of (Russian) air defenses," Lysohor said, publishing photos of smoke rising over the facility.
Luhansk, a city occupied by Russia since 2014, has come under repeated strikes by Ukraine during the full-scale war.
Russian occupation authorities claimed that 12 Western missiles – presumably eight U.S.-made ATACMS and four British Storm Shadow missiles – were used in the attack.
"Four missiles were shot down by air defenses on approach to the city," Leonid Pasechnik, the Russian-installed proxy head in the oblast, said on Telegram.
While the fallen debris only resulted in "dry grass catching fire," warehouses with fuel tanks and residential areas were also hit in the attack, Pasechnik alleged.
The full consequences of the reported attack are being determined.
The Kyiv Independent could not immediately verify the claims.
The Ukrainian military is yet to comment on the news, which emerged the same day Kyiv finally acknowledged receiving the first batch of F-16 fighter jets from its allies.
The announcement on the Western aircraft was preceded by a series of successful Ukrainian strikes against Russia's valuable military assets, including the Morozovsk airfield in Rostov Oblast and the submarine Rostov-on-Don in occupied Crimea.
The Kyiv Independent news desk
