Ukraine's military said on April 23 that it struck a Russian facility producing combat drones located more than 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) from Ukraine's border.
Independent news channel Astra reported earlier in the day that a Ukrainian long-range drone strike had targeted Alabuga, sharing purported footage of a drone being shot down.
The Russian Defense Ministry claimed that Russian air defenses shot down one Ukrainian airplane-type drone in Tatarstan at about 12:20 p.m. local time, without providing further details or mentioning Alabuga.
The strike, carried out by Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces in coordination with other branches of the military, targeted a plant in the Alabuga Special Economic Zone of Russia’s Republic of Tatarstan, the General Staff said.
The facility that was hit manufactures up to 300 Iranian-style Shahed drones and their Russian-made variants, Gerans, per day, according to the General Staff. Shahed-style drones are frequently used by Russia in attacks on Ukrainian cities and infrastructure.
The attack is among Ukraine's deepest strikes into Russian territory since the full-scale invasion began in 2022. Ukraine hit targets over 1,000 kilometers last year for the first time, with one attack occurring 1,800 kilometers (1,118 miles) from the border in Russia's Murmansk Oblast.
The General Staff said that there were "confirmed hits and explosions in the target area," and that the damage to the facility as a result of the attack was still being assessed.
“The strike is a justified response against a strategic military site used to support Russia’s aggression and terror against Ukraine and Ukrainian civilians," the General Staff statement read.
Over 6,000 Shahed-type drones were produced in Alabuga last year, as well as thousands of decoy drones used to overwhelm Ukrainian air defenses, said Andrii Kovalenko, an official at Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council.
Russian forces launch hundreds of drones nearly every night at Ukraine, targeting civilian areas and critical infrastructure. The attacks have intensified in recent months as Moscow continues to reject a U.S.-backed proposal for a 30-day ceasefire, which Kyiv says must include a halt to attacks on civilian infrastructure.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has urged a temporary freeze on long-range drone and missile strikes, but Kremlin officials have dismissed the idea.
Kateryna Hodunova
(Updated: )
