In the night to Wednesday, drones attacked the Azot chemical plant in the Russian city of Novomoskovsk in the Tula region. This is reported by the news outlet Ukrainska Pravda, citing the monitoring Telegram channels Exilenova+ and Supernova+ as well as the governor of the Tula region, Dmitry Milyayev.
The Telegram channel Exilenova+ reported, according to Ukrainska Pravda: “Novomoskovsk, Tula region, the Azot chemical plant was attacked, after the attack a fire began on the site.” An assessment of published photos and videos from local residents (OSINT) indicated that the AM-70 ammonia facility had most likely caught fire.
Milyayev confirmed the drone attack on the Tula region and mentioned damage to infrastructure in the industrial area of Novomoskovsk. According to the governor, as reported by the news outlet TSN, the damage is said to have been caused by debris from shot-down drones.
According to TSN, local residents reported explosions, and fires subsequently broke out in several districts of Novomoskovsk. A rocket and drone alert had been declared in the region during the night. Images online showed heavy smoke development and smoke columns over the city. According to TSN, the local authorities called on the population to remain calm. At the same time, laboratories of the regional administration of Rospotrebnadzor were sent to the city to check for possible chemical contamination.
According to Ukrainska Pravda and TSN, the Azot plant belongs to the EuroChim group and is one of the largest producers of nitrogen fertiliser in Russia. It produces ammonia, ammonium nitrate, urea and methanol. According to the Ukrainian foreign intelligence service, the plant also supplied nitric acid to the plant named Sverdlov in Dzerzhinsk, which produces explosives for the Russian military-industrial complex.
Ukrainska Pravda notes that Azot was not a target of drone attacks for the first time – the plant had already been hit in June. In the same night, according to Ukrainska Pravda, a fire also broke out in the Russian city of Lipetsk after an attack on a steelworks.
