‘Madyar’s Birds’ Hit Key Russian Missile-Electronics Plant 1,000 km Inside Russia

Ukraine’s General Staff has confirmed that its long-range drones struck the VNIIRE-Progress plant in Cheboksary overnight on Nov. 26, hitting one of Russia’s key producers of navigation systems and components for cruise and ballistic missiles.

The strike triggered a fire at the facility, and damage assessments are ongoing.

The military said the plant manufactures GNSS receivers and antennas for GLONASS, GPS and Galileo systems – including the Kometa modules used in Shahed drones, Iskander-M and Kalibr missiles, and in glide-bomb kits for FAB-500 to FAB-3000 bombs.

The operation was carried out by Ukraine’s Madyar Birds drone unit. Robert “Madyar” Brovdi, the unit’s commander, said on Telegram that his strike group “pecked at” the VNIIRE-Progress plant, noting that the facility assembles the Kometa modules designed to help Russian Shaheds, reconnaissance drones, guided bombs and missiles resist Ukrainian electronic warfare.

The strike was initially identified through OSINT analysis by Astra, which geolocated multiple eyewitness videos showing impacts on the plant on Yakovleva Street and a 12-story residential building nearby.

Regional authorities earlier claimed debris from downed drones caused minor damage and injured two people.

The factory has been attacked twice before, on June 9 and July 5, after which it temporarily halted operations.

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Russian FPV Strikes Civilians in Nikopol, 3 Dead Including Mother and Son

A Russian FPV drone hit a group of civilians moving along the road in Nikopol on Tuesday, killing three people, including an elderly person and her son. The attack was part of a broader wave of Russian strikes across the Dnipropetrovsk region, which saw more than 40 attacks on four districts throughout the day.

The Ukrainian military also reported a series of other overnight hits: a Russian command post in occupied Vasylivka in the Zaporizhzhia region, a Tor-M1 air defense system in Mariupol, brigade-level ammunition depots in Ocheretyne and Kamianka, and a Russian troop concentration on the Pokrovsk front line.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said its air defenses destroyed 33 Ukrainian drones overnight, reporting interceptions over Belgorod, Voronezh, Lipetsk, Bryansk, and the Black Sea. The ministry did not mention any drones intercepted over Chuvashia.

The strike comes a day after one of Ukraine’s largest drone attacks on Russia, when dozens of drones and missiles hit multiple military and industrial targets across Russian port cities Taganrog, Novorossiysk, and Tuapse.

Ukrainian weapons hit a bomber repair plant, a kamikaze drone factory, a high-tech air defense unit, and oil refineries.

The Ukrainian General Staff called the raids “complex, long-range air operations.” Three civilians were killed and at least ten injured in Taganrog.