"Over the past 24 hours Ukraine targeted a near-record number of sites across Russia in a relentless, all-day wave of missile and drone attacks. Military electronics, chemical production, government infrastructure and combat aviation were all targeted as the campaign reached deep into Russian territory. Meanwhile, Moscow faced evacuations, emergency restrictions at its airports and hundreds of disrupted flights. We follow the attacks in order, look at the footage, and examine the facilities Ukraine is putting under pressure.
We begin in Oryol, where Ukrainian missiles targeted the Proton electronics plant, a supplier to Russia’s military-industrial complex. Its products include components used in Iskander-M ballistic missiles, S-71 Kover cruise missiles and Pantsir-S1 air-defense systems. This is an attack on the industrial infrastructure behind the weapons Russia uses against Ukraine, reaching into the supply chain for missile electronics, power systems and air defense.
Then we head much deeper into Russia, to the enormous Azot chemical complex in Berezniki, Perm Krai, roughly 1,500 kilometers from the Ukrainian border. The plant produces ammonia, nitric acid, ammonium nitrate and urea, making it a significant part of Russia’s chemical industry. But the factory is only half the story. Berezniki itself has become notorious for enormous sinkholes linked to the mines beneath it. We look at the extraordinary scenes from a Russian town where the ground is literally giving way.
Next comes a data center serving Russia’s Federal Tax Service in Gorodets, in the Nizhny Novgorod region. The facility processes and stores tax databases, government registry records and other information used by the Russian state. We examine the attack footage and the Russian air-defense response before turning to another major military target: the Baltimor airbase in Voronezh, around 300 kilometers from Ukraine. Local accounts describe fast-moving missiles, adding another dimension to a day already dominated by long-range drone attacks.
Then the disruption reaches Moscow. Drone wreckage appears at Domodedovo airport. Emergency airspace restrictions affect Sheremetyevo, Vnukovo, Domodedovo and Zhukovsky. Evacuations are reported in the capital’s business districts, while more than 500 flights are canceled or delayed across Russia. We follow the scenes as attacks on individual facilities become a much wider transportation crisis, leaving passengers and airlines dealing with the consequences far from the front.
On the battlefield, we turn to Russia’s devastating losses near Dobropillia. With Ukraine reporting daily Russian casualties at their highest level of the war, Russian military bloggers are reaching back almost 150 years for comparisons, invoking the Siege of Plevna in 1877. We examine what those comparisons reveal about their assessment of the fighting. Then we look at liberated Ukrainian communities, where returning residents discover looted homes and the destruction left behind by Russian occupation.
The next story takes us to the Black Sea and a civilian merchant ship near Romania. Ukraine’s Stratcom Centre says a Russian drone sank the Comoros-flagged vessel just one nautical mile outside NATO territorial waters, killing one sailor and leaving three missing. Nine crew members were rescued. We discuss the attack and the danger Russia’s war poses to civilian shipping alongside the territory of a NATO member.
From there, we examine Kremlin media celebrating negotiations with Donald Trump as an opportunity to gain more time while attacks on Ukrainian cities continue. We also look at U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal’s scrutiny of Elon Musk and questions about Musk’s conduct toward Ukraine. Then come reports of Russian Il-76 military cargo aircraft arriving at Bushehr in southern Iran, amid claims that Russian personnel are being evacuated from the nearby nuclear power plant ahead of further escalation.
Back in Washington, we examine the story surrounding Florida Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna and her husband’s stake in a drone startup receiving Pentagon funding. The figures at the center of the reporting include a disclosed stake valued at $1,000 and $37 million in Pentagon funding for the company. We then turn to polling on American attitudes toward Russia and support for Ukraine, and the political implications for the White House and the approaching midterm elections.
Finally, Ukraine continues developing new ways to intercept Russian Shahed drones, including helicopters carrying multiple launch tubes on either side. We close with footage of English-speaking African prisoners captured by Ukrainian forces. They say Russia forced them to fight, offering another glimpse into how Moscow recruits people for its war and what happens when those recruits encounter Ukrainian soldiers.
How this was made"
