Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy rejected claims that Ukraine has used US long-range missiles to hit deep within the Russian territory. The statement came after a Wall Street Journal report alleged that the US lifted restrictions on Ukraine’s use of certain Western weapons for strikes on Russia.

Ukrainian President denies using US weapons for strikes inside Russia

Speaking from the sidelines of the EU leaders’ summit in Brussels on 23 October, Zelenskyy said Ukraine has never launched American long-range weapons at targets deep inside Russia. During a briefing in Brussels, he responded to a journalist’s question about the WSJ article that claimed the US administration had removed limits on using Western missiles against Russia, citing an attack on Russia’s Bryansk Oblast.

“I don’t know who wrote what,” Zelenskyy said. “We never used American weapons for long-range strikes on very important targets in Russia. That’s important.”

He clarified that Ukraine did use various long-range systems, but only in areas of active combat or against Russian forces preparing to launch operations.

Now, President Zelenskyy also stressed that equating attacks on occupied Ukrainian territory with strikes on Russia was incorrect.

“Crimea and the East are Ukraine, and we cannot talk about using any weapon, not even domestically produced ones, against Crimea as if it were Russian territory,” he said. “No, it’s temporarily occupied territory.”

Ukraine turns to its own long-range weapons

Zelenskyy said Ukraine now uses domestically produced long-range systems. These include capabilities ranging from 150 kilometers to 3,000 kilometers. According to him, the key challenge is not technology, but scaling up production.

“The issue is how to get additional funding to mass-produce the long-range capabilities we have,” he explained.

He also referenced Russia’s frozen assets, stating that it was important for Ukraine to access some of those funds to support its weapons manufacturing, as well as European and other allied defense industries.

In the past 24 hours, Ukraine was hit with many drones and missiles, but it also dished them out — striking a strategic chemical factory, a power plant, and other targets inside Russia.

According to the General Staff of the Armed Forces, a combined strike that included British-made Storm Shadow cruise missiles hit the Bryansk Chemical Plant about 125 kilometers north of Ukraine’s border on 21 October. This plant, which sits a few kilometers outside Bryansk, produces gunpowder, explosives, and rocket fuel components used in Russian munitions.

Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces Commander Robert "Madyar" Brovdi confirmed the plant's strategic importance, calling it "perhaps the largest frontline industrial production and repair base for heavy weapons that the Russian army uses today on the battlefield."

"This is a powerful blow to Russian combat capability on the battlefield, here and now," Madyar wrote, detailing that the facility produced ammunition and conducted repairs for artillery, TOS-1A thermobaric systems, all types of MLRS (Grad, Uragan, Tornado), engineering munitions, and Kh-59 cruise missiles.

The attack is part of Kyiv’s growing effort on hitting strategic targets inside Russia, focusing especially on oil refineries and factories producing war materiel. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy recently claimed that these attacks are happening just about daily.

In most cases, Ukraine uses a menagerie of different attack drones to hit these objectives, but has frequently added in missiles as well.

“The Defence Forces of Ukraine continue to strike strategic facilities of the military-industrial complex on the territory of the Russian Federation, thereby weakening the offensive potential of the aggressor state,” the General Staff wrote in a statement on the 21 October attack.

The Ukrainian forces said they are assessing the damage, without providing additional details. The Air Force, Land Forces, and Navy were involved in the attack, per the statement.

Russian media reported taking down the missiles and claimed to destroy 57 Ukrainian drones during the attack, while social media from the region posted videos of incoming weapons and reported the sounds of explosions around the industrial zone.

Power outages in some Russian neighborhoods reported

On the same day, power reportedly went out in Trubchevsk, a town just north of the Ukrainian border in Bryansk Oblast, with one Russian Telegram channel posting a video of what appears to be a burning substation purportedly located in the area.

Russian social media channels also reported that a fire broke out in the Russian city of Smolensk, 270 kilometers north of Ukraine’s border following a drone alert, possibly signaling more Ukrainian air activity in that area. Parts of the city reportedly lost power.

The Ukrainian General Staff did not comment on what happened to these energy infrastructure assets. Local Russian officials remained silent about the attacks.

The Bryansk Chemical Plant has been hit in the past. One strike took place in January, with some Russian sources claiming that US-made ATACMS missiles were used during the attack. An ammunition depot in the area was also reportedly struck.

More recently, Ukraine's General Staff reported that it used Neptune cruise missiles to attack the Elektrodetal plant in Bryansk Oblast. This plant produces electrical connectors for both military and industrial applications.

Ukraine wants more missiles for its deep strike campaign

The UK provided the air-launched Storm Shadows, with a range of over 500 kilometers in 2023. Ukrainian forces swiftly starting to use them in combined attacks against targets in Russia and occupied Crimea.

Ukraine is trying to ramp up its deep strike campaign in an attempt to cripple Russia economically and hinder its military production to freeze its creeping advance along the front. As part of this, it is trying to secure long-range missiles from allies and build some of its own.

Brigham McCown, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, said Ukraine likely needs "hundreds" of missiles.

Kyiv has lobbied the United States to provide Tomahawks, a cruise missile with a range of about 2,400 kilometers. The administration of US President Donald Trump appeared to show signs that it was considering it, but has so far rebuffed this request.

Ukraine also appears to be combat-testing its own Flamingo range of cruise missiles, which were just announced in August, with a recent attack against Russian targets in Crimea.

While the Flamingo's developer, Fire Point, claimed that it could produce one missile per day and ramp that up sevenfold in the future, it is unclear what quantities will be available to the Ukrainian forces and how quickly.

Editor's note: This is a developing story and is being updated.

Ukraine's military intelligence (HUR) struck on June 28 the 1060th Material-Technical Support Center in the city of Bryansk, Ukraine's General Staff said.

The facilities store a Russian missile and drone arsenal, Ukrainska Pravda reported, citing a source in HUR.

Local residents reported hearing explosions and gun fire throughout the morning of June 28. Pictures posted on social media show smoke billowing from the area of where the centre, formerly the the 120th arsenal of the Main Missile and Artillery Directorate, is located in an industrial area in the southern part of the city.

The General Staff said it was assessing the strike as extent of the damage was not immediately clear.

Bryansk Oblast Governor Alexander Bogomaz acknowledged a drone attack on the region overnight claiming that four civilians were injured in the attack, damaging ten homes and a vehicle.

Later in the morning, Bogomaz claimed that all the drones had been downed by Russian air defense unit in a separate attack, claiming that no damage had been inflicted. He did not mention the Main Missile and Artillery Directorate in his comments.

The Kyiv Independent cannot immediately verify the reports or claims made by Russian officials.

Bryansk Oblast, located in Russia's far-west, borders Ukraine's Chernihiv and Sumy Oblast, and has been the target of various Ukrainian strikes.

Ukraine's military regularly conducts strikes onto Russian and Russian-occupied territory.

Drones operated by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) struck the Kirovske military airfield in occupied Crimea overnight on June 28, the SBU told the Kyiv Independent. The attack destroyed Mi-8, Mi-26 and Mi-28 attack helicopters, and a Pantsyr-S1 self-propelled anti-aircraft missile and gun system, the SBU claimed.

Ukrainian drone strike on Crimea air base destroys 3 Russian helicopters, SBU claims

The attack destroyed Mi-8, Mi-26 and Mi-28 attack helicopters, and a Pantsyr-S1 self-propelled anti-aircraft missile and gun system, the Security Service of Ukraine told the Kyiv Independent.

The Kyiv IndependentKateryna Denisova