Ukraine Strikes Russian Rocket Plant and Air Base Far Inside Russia

Ukraine launched a major attack deep inside Russia on Saturday, striking targets in the Samara region — a large area in southwestern Russia. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed the strike, saying his forces hit a rocket-making plant and a military air base. The attack reached nearly 900 kilometers (about 560 miles) from the Ukrainian border, making it one of the longest-range strikes Ukraine has carried out. Ukraine said it used missiles it built itself, called Flamingo missiles, to reach the targets.

The rocket plant that was hit is called the Progress Center. It is run by Roscosmos, which is Russia's space agency, but the facility also makes rocket technology and electronics used for military purposes. Ivan Noskov, the leader of the city of Samara, said that air defense forces tried to stop the attack but that some missiles got through and caused damage to industrial sites in the city. He said people who were hurt received medical help, but he did not share how many people were injured or how bad the damage was.

Ukraine also struck Russia's Savasleyka air base, which is about 700 kilometers (430 miles) from the front line where the two countries are fighting. President Zelensky said the goal of these attacks is to show Russians the real cost of the war their government started. "Peace is needed, and this must be evident in Russia — through concrete damage to specific facilities," Zelensky wrote on social media. He has made it clear that Ukraine wants to pressure Russia into stopping the war.

Ukraine has been increasing its long-range attacks throughout 2025. In July, Ukraine launched three times as many long-range strikes as it did in January, according to ACLED, a group that tracks conflicts around the world. By hitting targets far inside Russia, Ukraine forces the Russian military to spread its air defenses over a much wider area. This makes it harder for Russia to protect everything at once.

Russia's military said it shot down 598 Ukrainian drones over 19 different Russian regions on Saturday. These drones also flew over the Black Sea, the Azov Sea, and Crimea, which is a peninsula that Russia took from Ukraine years ago. In the town of Shatura, near Moscow, a Ukrainian drone hit a private home and wounded two people, including a nine-year-old child. Russia's government confirmed the incident, with the local governor sharing the news.

Russia also struck back on the same day. A Russian attack hit an apartment building in southeastern Ukraine, killing a three-month-old baby and wounding 11 other people. The attack struck the town of Marhanets in the Dnipropetrovsk region, according to local officials. Ukraine's Air Force reported that Russia sent 152 drones into the country on Saturday, and Ukrainian forces shot down 124 of them.