Ukraine war latest: Ukraine hits Russian planes, ships in Crimea, artillery in major strikes on occupied territories
Key developments on Feb. 21-22:
- Ukraine hits Russian planes, ships in Crimea, artillery in major strikes on occupied territories
- Ukraine confirms Flamingo strike on key Russian ballistic missile factory
- Russia hits American sweets factory with missile in northeastern Ukraine
- Explosions rock Ukraine's capital and outskirts as Russia launches mass missile attack, killing 1, injuring 17
- Woman arrested after suspected terrorist attack kills police officer, injures 25 in western Ukraine's Lviv
Ukraine's armed forces struck Russian ships, planes, and artillery units in Russian-occupied Crimea and the occupied part of Zaporizhzhia Oblast, the General Staff announced on Feb. 21.
In Crimea, close to Sevastopol, Ukrainian forces hit two Russian border patrol ships of Project 22460 Hunter, part of the Rubin class of Russian Coast Guard vessels designed to combat surface and airborne threats.
Ukraine previously targeted the same class of ship in December with sea drones, although the General Staff did not confirm if drones were used in the latest attack.
Further north on the peninsula, Ukraine hit two Be-12 Chayka aircraft stationed at the Yevpatoria Aviation Repair Plant. Ukraine first hit Be-12 aircrafts in September 2025, also in occupied Crimea.
The Soviet-designed Be-12 Chayka is an anti-submarine amphibious aircraft equipped with high-value systems used for detecting and engaging submarines. They have been used in combat over the Black Sea.
The full extent of the damage on the Crimean Peninsula is still being assessed, the General Staff said.
"The Ukrainian Defense Forces continue to systematically reduce the aggressor's combat potential, depriving it of the ability to conduct offensive operations," they added.
In Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Ukrainian forces destroyed Russia's equivalent of HIMARS — a Tornado-S multiple launch rocket system. They have a firing range of 120 kilometers using high-precision, wide-range rockets, terrorizing Ukrainian civilians in frontline regions.
"Tornados are a nightmare for Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Sumy, Kherson, Nikopol, and other peaceful cities of Ukraine," said Robert 'Madyar' Brovdi, Commander of Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces.
Ukraine confirms Flamingo strike on key Russian ballistic missile factory
Ukraine's military launched an overnight operation, striking the Votkinsk Machine Building Plant — a key missile production hub in Russia's Udmurt Republic — with long-range cruise Flamingo missiles, Ukraine's Armed Forces General Staff confirmed on Feb. 21.
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.
"The enterprise of the military-industrial complex 'Votkinsky Plant' was hit. A fire was recorded on the territory of the facility. The results are being clarified," Ukraine's General Staff posted on social media.
According to independent Russian Telegram news channel Astra, at least 11 people were reported injured as a result of the attack.
During the operation, Ukraine also fired Flamingo missiles at a gas processing plant in Russia's Samara Oblast, a fuel and lubricants warehouse in Russian-occupied Donetsk, a drone workshop in Donetsk Oblast, and a military warehouse in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, according to the General Staff.
Ukraine's long-range cruise Flamingo missiles are reported to have a range of up to 3,000 kilometers (1,864 miles) and carry a warhead weighing around 1,150 kilograms.
Shortly before the strike on Feb. 20, Denys Shtilierman, the co-owner of Firepoint, the Ukrainian firm behind the Flamingo, posted a video on X showing the launch of a Flamingo missile with the cryptic caption, "No context. Context – later."
Shtilierman later reposted the General Staff's message confirming the strike with the caption, "And here is the context."
Here is a short video. Without context. Context — later) pic.twitter.com/B1v90J9NXq
— Denys Shtilierman (@DenShtilierman) February 20, 2026
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.
Russia hits American sweets factory with missile in northeastern Ukraine
Russia struck a sweets factory in northeastern Ukraine owned by the American multinational company Mondelez on Feb. 21, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said in a post on X.
The factory, located in Trostianets in Sumy Oblast, was struck by a missile, Sybiha said. The plant has operated since the 1990s, and produces a range of well-known products, including Oreo and Milka.
"When Russia targets facilities owned by American companies on Ukrainian soil, it does so knowingly," Yulia Svyrydenko, Ukraine's prime minister, posted on social media on Feb. 22.
According to Svyrydenko, Mondelez has invested more than $250 million into the factory over the years.
A video posted to LinkedIn by Svyrydenko shows the factory heavily damaged after the attack. The extent of the damage and the potential cost to repair the factory remain unclear.
Andy Hunder, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine — of which Mondelez is a member — told the Kyiv Independent that targeted strikes against American owned companies are nothing new.
"Forty-seven percent of the members of the American Chamber of Commerce have had damage or destruction to their facilities across Ukraine," he said.
Explosions rock Ukraine’s capital and outskirts as Russia launches mass missile attack, killing 1, injuring 17
One man was killed after Russia launched a large-scale combined missile and drone attack on Ukraine in the early hours of Feb. 22.
Fifty missiles and 297 long-range kamikaze drones targeted the country, most of them at Kyiv and its suburbs. The Ukrainian Air Force reported downing 33 missiles and 274 drones.
Wall-shaking explosions first took place in Ukraine's capital at around 4:00 a.m. local time, according to Kyiv Independent journalists on the ground. More blasts were heard at approximately 4:30 a.m. local time and continued intermittently throughout the early morning.
The attack caused a building to collapse in the town of Fastiv, 60 kilometers southwest of Kyiv, killing a 49-year-old man and injuring seven others, according to Kyiv Oblast governor Mykola Kalashnyk. A total of 17 people were injured across the oblast as a result of the attack, including four children, he said.
Kyiv city mayor Vitali Klitschko also reported that a woman and a child were injured in the attack.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said early on Sunday afternoon that the attack not only targeted energy facilities, but also water supply and railway infrastructure.
"This week alone, Russia launched more than 1,300 attack drones against Ukraine, over 1,400 guided aerial bombs, and 96 missiles of various types, including dozens of ballistic ones," he added.
Since October, Russia has systematically targeted Ukraine’s energy and heating infrastructure, as the country goes through one of its coldest winters in years.
The attack also targeted seven other oblasts, according to Zelensky, including the coastal region of Odesa in the south of Ukraine. Kamikaze drone attacks caused damage and fires to energy infrastructure, according to the oblast governor's, Oleh Kiper.
Ukraine's largest private energy company, DTEK, reported that Russia hit an electrical substation in the attack on Odesa. The strike inflicted "severe damage," DTEK Spokesperson Pavlo Bilodid told the Kyiv Independent.
Crews are already on the ground working to repair the facility, he said.
Woman arrested after suspected terrorist attack kills police officer, injures 25 in western Ukraine’s Lviv
A woman has been arrested in connection with a suspected terrorist attack — believed by Ukrainian officials to have been ordered by Russia — that killed a police officer and injured 25 others in the western city of Lviv in the early hours of Feb. 22.
"The police, in cooperation with the Security Service of Ukraine, have arrested a suspected saboteur," Ihor Klymenko, Ukraine's minister of internal affairs, said on Sunday morning.
According to Lviv Mayor Andrii Sadovyi, the detainee is a woman and a citizen of Ukraine.
Two blasts rocked Lviv's historic Old Town in the early hours of Feb. 22, shattering windows in the area.
The explosions took place after officers arrived at the scene responding to a reported store intrusion, Ukraine’s National Police said in a statement. A second explosion took place after another police crew arrived at the scene, Lviv Oblast’s Prosecutor’s Office added.
Ukraine's national police identified the police officer killed in the explosion as 23-year-old Viktoria Shpylka.
Twelve people have been hospitalized due to injuries, with two in serious condition, according to Sadovyi. All of the injured victims, with the exception of one teenager, are law enforcement employees who responded to the call.
"There is every reason to believe that the crime was carried out on the orders of Russia. It's not the first time that the enemy has deliberately set up deadly traps for Ukrainian law enforcement officers," Klymenko said.
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