Ukraine strikes St. Petersburg plant producing missile fuel, General Staff says
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Overnight, Ukrainian forces struck the Morozov plant near St. Petersburg, which produces fuel for 9M723 Iskander-M ballistic missiles, damaging three production workshops "at once," Ukraine's General Staff said on Nov. 9.
"Each such strike makes it more difficult for the enemy to produce missiles for the 'Iskander' systems, which it uses to strike our cities," the General Staff said.
"The chain is broken at the very beginning, long before the launch pad."
The extent of the damage at the Morozov plant, which produces solid-fuel charges for the Iskander-M missiles, is being assessed, according to the General Staff. The plant also produces explosives and has developed solid propellants for the engines of Topol-M intercontinental missile systems, it added.
The Morozov plant, part of Russian state defense conglomerate Rostec Corporation, is "one of the key links in the chain that supplies the Russian Federation's military with ballistic missiles," according to the General Staff.
Rostec is subject to international sanctions. Ukraine also sanctioned the plant in August.
The Russian Defense Ministry did not comment on the incident. The Kyiv Independent could not independently verify the claim.
The attack comes as Ukraine has ramped up its long-range strikes on oil refineries and military-industrial plants across Russia since early summer to slowly grind down the Russian war machine from afar.
"The Ukrainian Defense Forces are systematically undermining the aggressor's military and economic potential to force Russia to cease its armed aggression against Ukraine," the General Staff said.
At the same time, Russia has ramped up its attacks across Ukraine, including with ballistic missiles, while Ukrainian air defenses face an increasingly critical shortage of Patriot interceptor missiles to counter the ballistic threat.
Overnight on Nov. 9, a Ukrainian drone attack also struck Russia's second-largest oil refinery in Kirishi, Leningrad Oblast, regional governor Aleksandr Drozdenko confirmed.
