Posted on 04/02/2024 5:30:19 AM PDT by marcusmaximus
Dramatic footage shows the moment a suspected Ukrainian plane-type UAV explodes as it was targeted at a Russian plant assembling Iranian Shahed drones used in the war.
There was a huge blast and fireball near Yelabuga, deep in Russia, at least 660 miles from the closest Ukrainian territory. A total of three strikes were reported in the area.
Russian sources say it hit a dormitory for workers in the Alabuga economic zone in the Republic of Tatarstan, where it is believed the deadly Iranian drones are assembled.
It is unclear so far if there was also damage to the drone-making production line, but Ukraine's military spy agency said it caused 'significant damage' to a military target in the Tatarstan region.
There were scenes of panic as workers witnessed the fireball explosion, with crowds of people running for cover as it smashed into the building. Six people were injured in the drone attack which hit the hostel. Three were sent home after being examined by doctors. Three more were hospitalised.
Ukraine's GUR military intelligence directorate was behind the targeting of the Shahed-drone production line, reported RBC-Ukraine.
The UAVs that took part in the attack were equipped with equipment from NATO countries, alleged Alabuga SEZ, giving no evidence for the claim.
There were unconfirmed claims that the attack was not by a drone by a piloted small plane on a suicide mission, possibly a Ukrainian A-22, or that an aircraft was flying on autopilot.
Kremlin-loyal Readovka reported: 'It is too early to conclude whether the suicide pilot was alive at the wheel or whether the aircraft was controlled by an autopilot.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
The latest round of Russian air raids have brought Ukraine’s energy grid to the brink, with officials admitting, and then denying, the severity of the problem.
The head of DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private energy firm, said that five of its six plants had been damaged or destroyed.
80% of the company’s generating capacity is lost, and repairs could take up as much as an year and a half!
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia was carrying out ‘vile strikes’ to ‘bleed’ the Ukrainian energy systems.
DTEK supplies about a quarter of the country’s energy, and has seen its thermal power stations and other facilities repeatedly hit by Russian missiles, drones and artillery.
+50 points in the Zeeper Follies Game!
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No critique of anyone, just commenting on the text of the article itself, from the always trashy Daily Mail
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