Military & Defense
Ukrainian strike on the Morozov plant outside St Petersburg – it makes fuel for Iskander missiles, says the General Staff
Ukraine’s General Staff says three production units were damaged at the Morozov plant near St Petersburg, which it says makes solid fuel for Iskander-M missiles. Moscow has not commented.
Ukrainian forces struck on the night of November 9 the Morozov plant, a Russian war-industry facility just outside St Petersburg, which produces solid fuel for the engines of Iskander-M ballistic missiles. Ukraine’s General Staff reports that three production units were damaged simultaneously, while the extent of the destruction is still being assessed.
The company JSC “Morozov Plant” is located in the settlement of the same name in the Leningrad region and belongs to the state group Rostec. It is one of the oldest facilities of the Russian defence industry and specialises in the chemical synthesis of explosives.
Its role in the Iskander programme
According to the General Staff, the plant makes and delivers the solid-fuel charges for the 9Kh820 engines that power the 9M723 missiles of the Iskander-M system. The plant also developed in the past the solid propellant for the engines of Topol-M intercontinental missiles. The Ukrainian side describes it as one of the important links in the chain that supplies the Russian army with ballistic missiles.
“Every such strike makes it harder for the enemy to produce missiles for the Iskanders with which it hits our cities,” the General Staff notes, adding that “the chain breaks at its start, long before the launcher.” Kyiv invokes the right of self-defence under Article 51 of the UN Charter for strikes on Russian territory.
The Rostec group is under international sanctions, and Ukraine had also imposed sanctions on the plant itself in August. Russia’s defence ministry did not comment on the Ukrainian claim, which has not been confirmed by an independent source.
A night of multiple strikes
The same night Ukrainian drones also hit the Kirishi refinery, Russia’s second largest, in the same region. The strike on the Iskander industry comes days after the General Staff announced it hit two Iskander launchers in Bryansk, as well as, with Neptune missiles, the company “Proton-Electrotex” in Orel, which makes electronic components for the 9M723 too.
Meanwhile Russia has stepped up its ballistic missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities, while Ukrainian air defence sees its Patriot interceptors running low, on which it depends heavily against ballistic missiles. Since the start of summer Kyiv has intensified long-range strikes on refineries and factories of Russia’s military-industrial complex, aiming to gradually wear down Moscow’s war machine.
