Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Saturday that Ukraine used ground-launched cruise missiles to strike the Progress Rocket Space Center in Russia’s Samara region.
“In Russia’s Samara region, one of Roscosmos’ main enterprises, in particular the Progress Center involved in electronics production, was damaged,” Zelenskiy said in a post on X. “Flamingo missiles were used. Good result.”
Samara, the largest city in Samara Oblast, is located approximately 900 kilometers from the Ukrainian border. The city is home to the Progress Rocket Space Center, one of Russia’s most important rocket manufacturing facilities.
The Progress Center assembles Russia’s workhorse Soyuz-2 rocket and the newer Soyuz-5 launch vehicle. The facility also produces military satellites, making it a strategically important part of Russia’s aerospace and defense industries.
Russia uses Soyuz-2 rockets to place payloads weighing approximately 8 tons into low Earth orbit for both civilian and military missions. The Soyuz-2 is also Russia’s primary launch vehicle for sending crewed spacecraft to the International Space Station.
Damage reported at key Soyuz rocket facility
It was not immediately clear which buildings or production areas at the sprawling Progress facility were damaged in the reported missile strike. Open-source reports indicated that missiles may have hit buildings containing avionics clean rooms, potentially referring to the electronics production operations mentioned by President Zelenskiy.
Source: arstechnica.com