Moscow strikes Ukrainian steel plant as Kyiv targets Russian economy

Russia carried out a wave of air strikes on Ukraine overnight, killing two people at a steel plant, and Kyiv launched a heavy drone attack on the Moscow region that killed one person and set ablaze a warehouse ‌used by Russia’s leading e-commerce retailer.

Romania, which borders Ukraine, said an F-18 fighter on a Nato air policing mission had shot down a drone that breached its airspace during the latest attacks. It did not specify the origin of the drone, which entered from Moldova, but a spokesperson for the treaty organisation said it appeared to be Russian.

Russia struck Ukraine’s largest grain export port on the River Danube near the Romanian border last week after stepping up attacks on Ukraine in recent weeks. Ukraine has also intensified attacks on Russian targets including oil refineries, and both sides have struck commercial vessels in the ⁠Black Sea.

In the latest attacks since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russian forces struck Ukraine’s biggest steel plant overnight in the industrial city of Kryvyi ‌Rih, President Volodymyr Zelensky’s hometown.

At least two people were killed and 14 injured, Ukrainian officials said.

“As a result of the attack, key production facilities in the power generation and blast furnace sectors have been damaged, and the plant’s production processes have ‌been partially halted,” steel manufacturer ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih said on social media.