Russia claims it struck space-rocket plant in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv

The Russian Defense Ministry claimed on Friday that its forces destroyed production facilities of a space-rocket Artyom plant in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Thursday night.

Nine places of concentration of troops and military equipment, as well as an ammunition depot, were hit with air-based high-precision weaponry, ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said at a news conference in Moscow.

Three traction electrical substations were also destroyed with high-precision long-range sea-based Kalibr missiles, according to Konashenkov, who showed a video of the missiles being launched from submarines in the Black Sea.

On Thursday night, the aviation hit 112 military facilities in Ukraine, including two command posts, 11 strong points, 95 places of concentration of manpower and military equipment, and four warehouses of rocket and artillery weapons, he added.

The Strategic Rocket Forces targeted 13 objects of Ukraine's military infrastructure, including a Tochka-U air defense system launcher, six sites of concentrated manpower and Ukrainian military equipment, three artillery batteries, and a division of multiple rocket launchers.

The artillery hit 975 targets, including 21 control points, 69 strong points, 763 areas of concentration of manpower and military equipment, and 107 artillery positions.

"As a result of the strikes, over 280 nationalists and 38 armored vehicles and vehicles were destroyed," according to Konashenkov.

According to the spokesman, the air defense systems shot down 13 unmanned aerial vehicles and a rocket from the Ukrainian multiple launch rocket launcher "Smerch."

"In total, since the beginning of the special military operation, 142 aircraft, 111 helicopters, 634 unmanned aerial vehicles, 278 anti-aircraft missile systems, 2,638 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 304 multiple rocket launchers, 1,175 field artillery and mortars, as well as 2,467 units of special military vehicles have been destroyed," he said.

At least 2,829 civilians have been killed and 3,182 others injured in Ukraine since the war started on Feb. 24, according to UN estimates. The true toll is feared to be much higher.

So far, 7.7 million people in Ukraine have been internally displaced, with more than 5.3 million fleeing to other countries, according to the UN refugee agency.