Ukraine war latest: Major Russian aircraft manufacturing plant hit in Ukrainian strike, General Staff says
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Key developments on March 18:
- Major Russian aircraft manufacturing plant hit in Ukrainian strike, General Staff says
- Ukraine hits Russian aircraft repair plant in Novgorod Oblast, military reports
- Command post of elite Russian Rubikon drone unit hit in occupied Donetsk, Ukraine says
- Russian drones hit SBU office in western Ukraine's Lviv Oblast
Ukraine's General Staff said that its troops had struck an aircraft manufacturing plant in Russia's Ulyanovsk Oblast, located about 800 kilometers (about 500 miles) deep inside Russia, on March 16.
Building structures designed to hold aircraft and aircraft parking areas were hit at the Aviastar aircraft manufacturing plant near the city of Ulyanovsk, the General Staff reported on March 18, citing its preliminary information.
The General Staff did not say which weapons it used to strike the plant. Moscow has not yet reacted to the report. The Kyiv Independent could not independently verify the General Staff's report.
Ulyanovsk Oblast Governor Alexey Russkikh claimed that five Ukrainian drones were
"intercepted and destroyed" by the Russian air defense over the region on March 16, making no mention of the aircraft manufacturing plant allegedly suffering a hit.
Aviastar, which is part of the United Aircraft Corporation, produces Il-76 MD-90A heavy military transport aircraft and Il-78M-90A refueling aircraft, as well as providing maintenance for An-124 Ruslan cargo aircraft, according to the General Staff.
The General Staff added that the company's premises sustained varying degrees of damage, and the extent of the damage is still being assessed.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said on March 16, citing an unnamed Ukrainian source, that the Aviastar aircraft manufacturing plant was struck as media reports on it began surfacing on the internet.
"The Ukrainian Armed Forces will continue to strike key strategic facilities involved in supporting the Russian Federation’s military until the Russian Federation’s armed aggression against Ukraine is completely halted," the General Staff said in its Telegram post.
United Aircraft Corporation is a subsidiary of Rostec, a major Russian state aviation cluster. Rostec manages hundreds of Russian enterprises, such as Aviastar, manufacturing over half of Russia's weapons and military equipment and exporting high-tech products for the Russian military-industrial complex, according to Ukraine's military intelligence.
Ukraine hits Russian aircraft repair plant in Novgorod Oblast, military reports
Ukraine struck an aircraft repair plant in Russia's Novgorod Oblast, about 750 kilometers (about 466 miles) inside Russia, Ukraine's General Staff reported on March 18.
According to the General Staff, facilities at the 123rd Aircraft Repair Plant in Staraya Russa were hit on March 17, including a hangar used to service Il-76 and L-410 aircraft.
The extent of the damage is being assessed, it added.
The plant specializes in the repair and modernization of military transport aircraft and their components. It has its own runway, allowing it to receive heavy aircraft directly on-site.
The Kyiv Independent couldn't independently verify the General Staff's report.
Ukraine regularly strikes military infrastructure deep within Russia in an effort to diminish Moscow's firepower, as Moscow continues its full-scale war against Ukraine.
Command post of elite Russian Rubikon drone unit hit in occupied Donetsk, Ukraine says
Long-range Ukrainian drones struck a command post of Moscow's elite drone unit known as the Rubikon Center for Unmanned Technologies in Russian-occupied Donetsk, Ukraine's Special Operations Forces (SSO) reported on March 18.
The SSO said the overnight strikes also hit a coordination center for Russian unmanned systems units, which are also located in Donetsk, along with ammunition depots, unspecified equipment, and a storage site in a village about a two-hour drive southwest of the occupied city.
Rubikon, which continues to post drone footage of the unit's work against Ukrainian forces, has not commented on the SSO's claim as of the time of publication. The Russian Defense Ministry has also not reacted to the SSO's claim.
The SSO claims that "underground members" of the Resistance Movement against Russian occupation have helped its troops conduct the drone strikes.
A core part of Russia's unmanned system program to bolster its drone warfare against Ukraine, Rubikon specializes in both hunting down Ukrainian drone pilots and shooting their drones in the sky.
Russian drones hit SBU office in western Ukraine's Lviv Oblast
Russian drones targeted the western Ukrainian city of Lviv and surrounding region on the evening of March 18, regional authorities reported.
Drones hit the regional headquarters of Ukraine's State Security Service (SBU) in Lviv Oblast, causing damage to the building, Governor Maksym Kozytskyi said. No casualties were reported.
Kozytskyi also warned that residents of Lviv may encounter drone fragments in the city.
Earlier, Lviv Mayor Andrii Sadovyi warned residents at around 10:13 p.m. local time that Russian Shahed-type drones were headed for the city. Shortly afterwards, a Kyiv Independent journalist in Lviv reported that air defenses were active in the area.
Aerial alerts were also activated in the western regions of Ternopil and Ivano-Frankivsk.
Lviv lies about 70 kilometers (43 miles) from the Polish border. Located far from the front lines, it is not a frequent target of Russian aerial attacks. Still, the city has been hit by drones and missiles throughout Russia's full-scale war, with mass attacks sometimes leading Polish air defenses to scramble fighter jets in response.
Lviv was also the site of a terrorist attack in February that targeted local law enforcement, killing two victims and injuring 24.
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