MOSCOW
Ukrainian forces launched a missile strike on the Russian city of Bryansk using British-supplied Storm Shadow long-range cruise missiles, with reports indicating approximately seven missiles were involved in the operation.
The attack targeted the Kremniy El microelectronics plant, a key facility producing components and control systems for various Russian missile systems, including those used against Ukrainian targets.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the strike as a successful operation in his statements and nightly address, emphasizing that it hit a critical military factory manufacturing electronics for missiles that strike Ukrainian cities, villages, and civilians, and he congratulated the Armed Forces for their execution.
Ukraine’s General Staff confirmed the hit, releasing footage showing explosions and fires at the industrial site, and framed it as part of ongoing efforts to degrade Russia’s military-industrial capacity.
Russian authorities, including Bryansk Governor Alexander Bogomaz, reported that the strike impacted civilian areas in a busy commercial district near residential buildings, shops, educational institutions, and other non-military sites in the Sovetsky District.
The initial casualty figures stood at six killed and around 37-42 injured, with a teenager born in 2009 among those hospitalized in stable condition; the death toll later rose to seven according to updated statements from local officials, who provided medical aid and support to victims and their families.
Moscow labeled the incident a deliberate terrorist attack by the “neo-Nazi Kiev regime,” condemned it as a heinous crime against peaceful civilians, and accused Western involvement—particularly Britain—for enabling the operation through specialists handling the missiles’ operation, targeting, and intelligence support.
The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a detailed statement highlighting that such high-tech weapons require foreign expertise, holding Britain and other NATO backers fully responsible for the civilian deaths and injuries.
The statement further accused London of entangling itself in escalation by positioning as a leading European hawk and Russia’s adversary, violating international norms in pursuit of geopolitical aims.
It noted the timing coincided with intensifying diplomatic efforts in trilateral Russia-US-Ukraine formats and U.S. signals that the conflict might reach a turning point toward peace, suggesting the strike aimed to provoke civilian casualties, derail negotiations, and push hostilities to a new level of destruction—a tactic allegedly repeated by Western sponsors whenever settlement appears possible.
Russia called on the United Nations and other international bodies to condemn the action as a violation of international law, warning that continued silence would amount to tacit approval of the Kiev regime’s crimes and its handlers’ escalation drive. This incident underscores the ongoing pattern of deep strikes amid the broader conflict, with both sides claiming military objectives while trading accusations of civilian targeting, though independent on-the-ground verification of precise damage remains constrained by access limitations.
