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The Russian Ministry of Defence summed up the results of the ongoing strikes throughout Ukraine over the past week. Since September 9 to September 16, 2023, Russian forces launched 11 group strikes with high-precision long-range air and sea-based weapons, as well as unmanned aerial vehicles. They targeted port infrastructure facilities, facilities used for the production and storage of unmanned boats, fuel and lubricants, ammunition, Western weapons, as well as ares of locations of the Ukrainian military personnel. As a result of the strikes, ‘the material and technical support of Ukrainian groups of troops operating in the Donetsk and Zaporozhye directions, the supply of Western-made weapons, and a large arsenal of engineering ammunition of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were destroyed.’
Russian strikes continue on a daily basis. On the morning of September 16, Russian missiles struck the Kholodnogorsk district of Kharkiv. Among the targets, there is the Kharkov Armored Plant located on Bolshaya Panasovskaya Street near the Kharkiv-Sortirovochnaya station.
The Kharkov Armored Plant plays a crucial role in the production and repair of heavy armored vehicles for the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Since 2014, the Kharkiv Armored Plant has been increasing the production of armored vehicles for Ukrainian forces, and in the summer of 2023, the director of this particular enterprise headed the State military concern Ukroboronprom.
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Russian missiles have struck the plant before. According to the Ukrainian reports, the previous strikes hit the empty workshops. Last night, the Russian Armed Forces precisely hit one of the two workshops where primary production activities took place.
Ukrainian authorities make significant efforts to restore such facilities following attacks. In mid-August, a missile strike damaged the second workshop of the plant, but repairs resumed three weeks later.
Another blow struck the workshop of a neighboring concrete products factory. This strike, too, was highly accurate, hitting the parking lot where equipment previously repaired at the Kharkov Armored Plant was stationed. Moreover, according to the reports about numerous explosions in the area, the strike may have hit an ammunition storage area within the workshop.
On September 15, Russian forces targeted enemy positions in western Ukraine, specifically in the Khmelnitsky region. Reports suggest a series of explosions occurred in Starokonstantinov, potentially affecting the local airfield.
