Ukraine says it hit Russia’s Tolyattikauchuk rocket-fuel rubber plant; Tolyatti’s mayor confirms drone damage

Ukraine’s General Staff said on 24 October that Ukrainian forces struck the Tolyattikauchuk plant in the Russian city of Tolyatti, in Samara Oblast, and an aircraft at the Yeysk airfield in Krasnodar Krai. Russian officials confirmed a drone attack on Tolyatti but gave a different account of the damage. None of the claims has been independently verified.

What Ukraine says

According to the General Staff, an explosion and a fire were recorded at Tolyattikauchuk. It described the plant as a producer of synthetic rubbers, monomers and high-octane gasoline additives, and said the rubbers are used to make solid rocket fuel for tactical and ballistic missiles. In the General Staff’s words, “Damage to such objects affects the supply chain of raw materials for the Russian missile program,” as quoted by the Kyiv Independent.

The General Staff did not name the type of aircraft hit at Yeysk and said the extent of the damage had not been determined. It also claimed a strike on the Proton electronics plant in Russia’s Oryol region, which Kyiv says makes components for cruise and ballistic missiles. That strike took place on Friday, 23 October.

What Russia says

Tolyatti mayor Ilya Sukhikh said several industrial facilities were damaged in the drone attack, without saying which ones. Preliminary reports, he said, showed no dead or injured, according to The Moscow Times. Local authorities in the Yeysk area confirmed an attack but reported only minor damage to two apartment buildings and no casualties.

In Oryol, Governor Andrei Klychkov said three people were killed on Friday in a Ukrainian missile strike on a civilian facility he did not specify. Russia’s defence ministry said its air defences destroyed 1,297 drones, one French-made SCALP cruise missile and four Ukrainian Neptune missiles over the previous 24 hours. Both figures are Moscow’s own claims.

Unconfirmed reports

Telegram channels reported fires at several plants in Tolyatti and evacuations at the AvtoVAZ car factory. There is no official confirmation of either report, and the Kyiv Independent said it could not verify the claims.

Part of a wider campaign

Tolyatti lies roughly 1,300 km from Kyiv. The Kyiv Independent notes that earlier Ukrainian strikes on chemical and rubber plants in the city were reported on 4 April and 12 September. The latest attack comes as Russia continues its own strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure, covered in Occupied Crimea left without power after strike on energy infrastructure; Moscow says it hit a naval-drone workshop at Chornomorsk.