President Volodymyr Zelensky said the attack used Flamingo missiles, with the target about 900 kilometers from the Ukrainian border. The General Staff reported that the strike hit the assembly hall for Soyuz rocket engines and a maintenance workshop for aircraft equipment at the adjacent Aviakor plant.
Satellite imagery from several services, including Copernicus and Planet Labs, confirmed the damage. The images show a rocket piercing the roof of one building and another hitting a hangar at the Aviakor aircraft plant. Russian authorities initially described the attack only as a strike on an industrial enterprise, without providing details.
An unnamed Russian space industry expert told the BBC that engines for the first two stages of Soyuz rockets (RD-107A and RD-108A) are manufactured by ODK-Kusnezow in another part of Samara, but assembly on the rockets takes place at Progress. The expert suspects the damage occurred in a cleanroom used for installing electrical wiring.
The General Staff said strikes on such facilities significantly reduce the military-technological capabilities of the Russian aggressor. Progress is a key enterprise in Russia’s space industry, producing Soyuz launch vehicles, which are also used to build the Rasswet satellite communications system, seen as a counterpart to Starlink.
Source: www.bbc.com
