Russia bombs US factory in one of war’s largest attacks

Russia struck an American business with cruise missiles overnight in one of the largest aerial attacks of the war so far, Ukraine has said.

The Ukrainian air force said some 574 drones and 40 missiles were fired overnight, primarily targeting western regions of the country – far from the battlefield’s front line in the east and south of the country.

The strikes killed one person and injured 15 more and struck a “major American electronics manufacturer”, according to Andrii Sybiha, Ukraine’s foreign minister.

Video footage showed a large fire at the premises of Flex Ltd, a multinational firm headquartered in Texas.

The company manufactures electronic goods including games consoles, laptops and control units for cars and other vehicles.

The bombardment was Russia’s third-largest aerial attack this year in terms of the number of drones fired and eighth-largest in terms of missiles.

Poland scrambled aircraft to protect its airspace during the overnight attack on Lviv, which is less than 50 miles from the Polish border. Warsaw said it saw no violations of its airspace.

Credit: zakarpattya_online

The assault came just days after Vladimir Putin travelled to Alaska to meet US president Donald Trump to lay out his terms for peace, which include Ukraine withdrawing from the entire Donetsk region.

Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, said the attack was carried out “as if nothing were changing at all”.

He said Moscow had shown no signs of pursuing meaningful peace negotiations and urged Ukraine’s allies to respond with stronger pressure, including further sanctions and tariffs.

Russia “wasted several cruise missiles against an American business,” Mr Zelensky said, noting it was a regular civilian enterprise producing domestic utilities, such as coffee machines. “And that too became a target for Russia. Very telling.”

The American business was located in the city of Mukachevo in Zakarpattia and had 600 workers inside. The attack sparked a large fire and injured 15 people.

Flex, a Texas-based electronics company, has a factory in Mukachevo but it has not been confirmed whether it was targeted.

It is not the first American business to be targeted by Russian strikes after Boeing’s offices in Kyiv were targeted earlier this year.

“No military logic or necessity, just terror against people, businesses, and normal life in our country,” Mr Sybiha added.

The White House has previously said that its minerals deal with Ukraine would protect the country, as Moscow would not dare attack American investments.

Explosions were also reported in Lviv, Zaporizhzhia, while air raid sirens rang out through the night in Kyiv.

Ukraine, meanwhile, said it had struck an oil refinery in an overnight attack in Russia’s Novoshakhtinsk region and a fuel base in Voronezh.

Ukraine ready to fight fire with fire

Mr Zelensky also revealed that Ukraine had tested a long-range cruise missile – known as the Flamingo – that can strike targets at 3,000km, potentially facilitating further strikes deep inside Russian territory.

The Ukrainian leader said mass production could begin at the start of next year.

Russia’s overnight attack is a significant escalation in aerial attacks by Russia after weeks of more limited strikes against the backdrop of intensifying diplomacy.

Shortly after Steve Witkoff, Mr Trump’s peace envoy, met Vladimir Putin on August 8, Russian strikes reduced in intensity.

On Thursday, Ukraine is expected to hold more meetings with its allies to work out what security guarantees they are willing to provide in the event of a ceasefire.

Mr Zelensky said he believed specific plans would take shape in ten days, at which point he would be ready to meet Vladimir Putin.

Mr Zelensky and Mr Trump, who met in Washington on Monday, floated the idea of a trilateral meeting but Putin reportedly responded by suggesting a one-on-one meeting with the Ukrainian leader should take place first, perhaps in Moscow.

The Ukrainian leader immediately rejected the idea, with Europe now pushing for a neutral location, such as Geneva in Switzerland.

“We want to have an understanding of the security guarantees architecture within seven to 10 days. And based on that understanding, we aim to hold a trilateral meeting. That was my logic,” Mr Zelensky said.

“President Trump suggested a slightly different logic: a trilateral meeting through a bilateral one,” he continued. “But then we all agreed that, in any case, we continue working on the security guarantees, establishing this approximate framework, similar to Article 5. And what we have today is political support for this.”

Article 5 is Nato’s common defence guarantee under which an attack on one member is considered an attack on them all.

Ukraine is still not entirely clear what support it can expect from allies, particularly the US, which has said that Europe would do most of the heavy lifting on the ground.

The US, meanwhile, could station air defences in nearby European countries that would respond were Ukraine to face another attack.

Russia demands seat at the table

Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, said on Wednesday that security arrangements in Ukraine would not work without the Kremlin’s involvement.

“We cannot agree with the fact that it is now proposed to resolve collective security issues without the Russian Federation. This will not work. We have already explained more than once that Russia does not overstate its interests, but we will ensure our legitimate interests firmly and harshly,” he said at a press conference.

Russia is keen to ensure China, one of Moscow’s main allies, plays a role in enforcing security guarantees, but this has been dismissed by Mr Zelensky.

“First, China did not help us stop this war from the start. Second, China assisted Russia by opening its drone market… We do not need guarantors who do not help Ukraine and did not help Ukraine at the time when we really needed it.”

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