THE Ukraine carried out an overnight drone attack on a steel plant owned by the Russian Novolipetsk RAO in a joint operation of the GUR military intelligence service and the SBU security service, a Ukrainian security source said today.

The same source stated in Reuters that the attack caused a large fire in the factory and that its personnel were evacuated.

“Raw materials from this enterprise are used to manufacture Russian missiles, artillery, drones. Therefore, it is a legitimate target for Ukraine,” the source noted, without specifying the location of the steel plant.

Earlier today, dpa reported that explosions had occurred in the western Russian city of Lipetsk, which is about 400 kilometers south of Moscow, and that a large fire had broken out at a steel factory.

The district governor Igor Artamonov announced in a Telegram post that the fire broke out at the Novolipetsk Metallurgical Plant and that it had been extinguished, clarifying that no hazardous substances had leaked.

He also said that security services were investigating unconfirmed reports that the fire started from the crash of an aircraft.