Russian missile strike hits Ukraine aeronautics firm: Zelensky

The damage on an administrative building is seen after an overnight drone attack in Kyiv, on Aug. 2, 2023. (AFP)

• Zelensky said the strike included Russia’s hypersonic Kinzhal weapons
• Motor Sich’s headquarters are in the partially Russian-controlled region of Zaporizhzhia

KYIV: A Russian missile strike on Saturday hit a facility of the Ukrainian aeronautics group Motor Sich, one of several companies requisitioned by the government since Moscow’s invasion, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
“Today there was another Russian missile attack against our country. Kinzhals, Calibers. They hit Motor Sich” near Khmelnytskyi in western Ukraine, around 300 kilometers (190 miles) southwest of Kyiv, Zelensky said in his evening address.
Motor Sich, which makes plane and helicopter engines and other components, was among the “strategic” firms taken over by Ukraine’s defense ministry last November.
Zelensky said the strike included Russia’s hypersonic Kinzhal weapons, which are designed to elude air-defense systems, though he added that “some of the missiles were shot down.”
The Khmelnytskyi region, hundreds of kilometers from the front lines of the fighting in eastern Ukraine, has been regularly targeted by Russian strikes. The region is home to a major Ukrainian air base.
Motor Sich’s headquarters are in the partially Russian-controlled region of Zaporizhzhia in southeast Ukraine. Its governor said earlier Saturday that a Russian strike had caused a fire at a site outside the city.
It was unclear if the Russian strikes had hit the Motor Sich headquarters.