Ukraine Strikes Russian Missile Factory

Ukraine has hit one of Russia's most significant military production sites using British Storm Shadow missiles, while battlefield momentum shows signs of gradually shifting in Kyiv's favour after months of grinding stalemate.

President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed the strike on the Kremniy El plant in Russia's Bryansk region, saying: "The plant produced electronics and components for Russian missiles. The very missiles that strike our cities, our villages and civilians." Russian regional authorities said at least six civilians were killed and dozens more injured in what they called a "terrorist missile attack."

The Kremlin wasted no time pointing the finger at London. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters: "It is obvious that the launch of these missiles was impossible without British specialists. We are aware of this, we know it well, and we naturally take it into account." When asked whether Russia would respond militarily, Peskov did not rule it out, saying only that British involvement would be factored in. There was no immediate response from the UK government. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova claimed the strike was "premeditated and directed against civilians" and called on the UN to weigh in.

Russia has itself continued striking Ukrainian cities. A drone attack using an Iranian-supplied Shahed killed two people and injured five in Kharkiv on Wednesday. A day earlier, a Russian strike on Slovyansk in eastern Ukraine killed four and wounded 16.

Despite the ongoing violence, the broader picture on the front line has become more complicated for Moscow. Ukraine says it has reclaimed around 460 square kilometres of territory since the start of the year, which is roughly 10% of what it lost to Russia in 2025, with particularly notable gains in the Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhia regions. Major General Oleksandr Komarenko, Ukraine's chief strategist, said in televised remarks that "almost the entire territory of Dnipropetrovsk has been liberated." 

The US-based Institute for the Study of War put the territorial gains at a more conservative 257 square kilometres, citing the difficulty of mapping a porous front line, but said that the counterattacks were "generating tactical, operational and strategic effects that may disrupt Russia's Spring-Summer 2026 offensive campaign plan."

Zelensky attributed Russia's struggles partly to mounting casualties. "Russia is losing a lot of people, up to 35,000 a month," he told Italian newspaper Corriere Della Sera. "Losses equal the number of newly mobilised soldiers. They are close to a crisis." Former deputy chief of the Ukrainian military's General Staff, Lieutenant General Ihor Romanenko, said Russian recruitment, which had at times reached 60,000 new soldiers a month in 2025, has slowed sharply this year as Western sanctions bite and the pool of willing recruits dries up. 

"For three months, they've had nothing to create their reserves with," he said. Putin, he added, appears reluctant to order a full mobilisation for fear of public backlash. "Putin is afraid of conducting a full mobilisation. He's looking for other ways." One of those, Romanenko said, is pressuring university students, particularly those with poor grades, into training as drone operators, with some institutions offering payments of 100,000 rubles ($1,260) a month on top of military salaries as incentives.

Not all analysts are convinced that Ukraine's gains mark a turning point. Nikolay Mitrokhin of Bremen University said the advances "can hardly be called significant even considering the Russian army's very modest success," describing the recaptured areas as mostly "politically sensitive" territory in regions Russia annexed following its 2022 referendums. Kyiv-based analyst Igar Tyshkevych took a different view, saying the gains have rattled Moscow: "The Kremlin is utterly displeased from the morale standpoint because their conception, their confidence that they are pushing along the entire front line is falling apart."

Ukraine has also been targeting Russia's Black Sea Fleet in Novorossiysk, where it was relocated after Ukrainian strikes devastated its larger vessels in Sevastopol. On 1st March, drone attacks damaged five Russian warships, including one capable of launching Kalibr cruise missiles. Mitrokhin noted the fleet has few options: smaller vessels could theoretically be moved inland via the Volga-Don Canal, but the larger ships "should only hope for their air defence or that the war is over faster than they are drowned."

Peace talks remain stalled. The Iran war has delayed US-brokered negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow, though Zelensky said another round involving Russian and American negotiators may take place next week. A central sticking point is still Trump's reported proposal that Ukraine should formally cede territory it does not currently control in the Donbas, something Kyiv says it cannot accept.