Russia has rained daily drone and missile barrages on Ukraine during its full-scale invasion that began in 2022, prompting Moscow to retaliate against infrastructure, including Ukrainian energy facilities.
“Our soldiers hit one of Russia’s most important military factories in Bryansk. This factory produced electronics and components for Russian missiles. One of the very ones that hit our cities,” Zelensky said in a daily speech.
A video posted on social media by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine showed the attack, a building rocked by multiple blasts, plumes of black smoke rising from the site.
Zelensky called the strike a “fully justified response to the aggressors.”
Russia had earlier blamed the “terrorist” attack in Bryansk, which it said had killed six civilians and wounded at least 37 others. Didn’t say what the target was.
The injured were “taken to the Bryansk regional hospital, where they are receiving the necessary medical care,” regional governor Alexander Bogomaz said in a telegram.
Ukraine has not commented on the allegations of civilian casualties.
Bryansk, a city of about 400,000 inhabitants, is about 100 kilometers (60 miles) from the Ukrainian border.
Ukraine’s military said Ukraine used British Storm Shadow cruise missiles in the attack.
“Units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces successfully hit the Bryansk microelectronics plant Kremni L with Storm Shadow air-launched missiles,” the General Staff said in a social media post.
“The plant specializes in discrete semiconductor technology and integrated microchips, which are the ‘brains’ and ‘nervous systems’ of modern weapons, including Iskander missiles,” the statement said.
The army said it caused “significant damage to production facilities” at the factory.
In December, Ukraine said it used Storm Shadows to attack a Russian oil refinery in the Rostov region, saying the facility was directly involved in supplying Moscow’s armed forces.
Talk next week?
Ukraine said on Tuesday that Russian strikes killed four people and wounded at least 20 others in the Ukrainian town of Sloviansk in the Donetsk region as Kremlin forces advanced toward the center.
Moscow claims the Donbass region, a largely industrial region spanning Ukraine’s eastern Lugansk and Donetsk regions, is part of Russia, although it does not have full control over it.
The fate of Donbass, the epicenter of the fighting, remains a major sticking point in the complicated negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv, brokered by the United States.
Russia has threatened to take the territory by force if Kyiv does not cede it at the negotiating table but Ukraine has rejected the demand, arguing that giving up land would embolden the Kremlin.
Despite the apparent crisis, Zelensky said on Tuesday that the United States has proposed another round of Russia-Ukraine talks next week.
In an audio message sent to reporters, including AFP, Zelensky said the United States had postponed talks in the United Arab Emirates that were initially planned for last week until next week.
“It was proposed by the American side, but we will see what happens in the Middle East, to be honest,” Zelensky told journalists, adding that the meeting “could be in Switzerland or Turkey.”
US Special Envoy Steve Wittkoff said in an interview with CNBC on Tuesday that “the tripartite was supposed to happen this week.”
“I think the tripartite will be moved into next week and… we’re going to stay positive on that,” Wittkoff added.
