The Russian Ministry of Defense and the Federal Security Service (FSB) announced, in separate statements, that Russian forces destroyed several industrial facilities in the Dnepropetrovsk and Sumy regions associated with the production of a Ukrainian missile called the Sapsan. The strikes were launched in July, but not announced until August 14—one day before the Alaska summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump.
According to the Defense Ministry statement, Russian forces “delivered mass and group strikes by air-, sea-, and ground-based precision weaponry as well as unmanned aerial vehicles at design bureaus, missile fuel production facilities, and missile weaponry assembly facilities of the Ukrainian defence industry.”
“At the same time, Western-made air defence systems deployed by the AFU to protect these facilities were destroyed. In Dnepropetrovsk region alone, four U.S.-made Patriot air defense systems and one AN/MPQ-65 multifunctional radar providing targeting and guidance were neutralised,” the statement said.
“According to the information confirmed by several independent sources, as a result of the strikes of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation at the critical infrastructure objects of the Ukrainian defense industry in Dnepropetrovsk and Sumy region, the Kiev’s regime attempt to organize production of missile weaponry along with Western partners to launch attacks in the depth of the territory of the Russian Federation was foiled,” it concluded.
In a separate statement, the FSB reported that it was a joint FSB-Defense Ministry operation that “inflicted fire damage on facilities of the military-industrial complex of Ukraine involved in the creation of operational-tactical missile systems (OTRK).” The FSB further reported that with the financial support and assistance from “one of the Western European countries, Ukraine developed and launched production of the Sapsan medium-range OTRK, capable of delivering strikes deep into the territory of the Russian Federation, at defense enterprises in the Dnepropetrovsk and Sumy regions.”
According to RT, the strikes targeted chemical and mechanical plants in Pavlograd in the Dnepropetrovsk Region, as well as the “Zvezda” plant and State Scientific Research Institute of Chemical Products in Shostka, Sumy Region. The impact of the strikes has been confirmed by satellite imagery and open-source intelligence, it added.
The FSB said that Ukraine, with NATO’s permission, had planned to use Sapsan long-range missiles for strikes deep into Russian territory. “Thanks to the joint efforts of the FSB and Russian Armed Forces, Ukraine’s missile program plans have been thwarted,” the statement added. The agency described the damage to Ukraine’s military industrial complex as “colossal,” and said it far surpassed Kiev’s “Spiderweb” operation that targeted strategic Russian aviation in early June.
An unnamed FSB official told TASS that the production of Sapsan missiles was financed by Germany. “It has been established that with Germany’s financial support and the assistance of foreign specialists, the development and production of the Sapsan medium-range operational-tactical missile systems capable of striking deep into the territory of the Russian Federation has been carried out at defense enterprises in the Dnepropetrovsk and Sumy regions of Ukraine,” he said.
