Ukraine-Russia war latest: Kyiv strikes chemical plant deep behind enemy lines with drones, report claims

Visuals show smoke rising from the area of the chemical plant as Russia faces repeated attacks from Ukraine
Ukraine has reportedly struck a chemical plant in Russia ’s Samara oblast, local officials said, as Kyiv and Moscow exchanged attacks overnight.

Samara oblast governor, Vyacheslav Fedorishchev, confirmed a drone attack on a "industrial enterprise in Tolyatti" on his Telegram channel but did not provide additional details on what was struck or the extent of the damage caused.

Ukraine has previously said it has attacked “strategically important facility" that produces over 30,000 metric tons of explosives for bombs and missiles annually in the Samara oblast.

This comes as Volodymyr Zelensky said he was discussing possible security partnerships with allies in the Middle East after meeting Jordan ’s King Abdullah yesterday and offering Kyiv 's war-tested drone expertise.

“We discussed a possible partnership in the security sphere and the overall situation in the Middle East and the Gulf region,” the Ukrainian president said on the second day of an unannounced visit to the region.

Kyiv, meanwhile, continued to launch drone attacks on Russia , with the latest strike killing one person in Taganrog and damaging several ‌houses and industrial ​enterprises.

Ukraine attacks chemical plant in Russia's Samara with drones
Ukraine has reportedly struck a chemical plant in Russia’s Samara oblast overnight, according to reports.

Samara oblast governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev confirmed a drone attack on a "industrial enterprise in Tolyatti" on his Telegram channel but did not provide additional details on what was struck or the extent of the damage caused.

Fedorishchev further claimed that no casualties had been reported amid the attack.

The Russian facility was recently attacked by Ukrainian forces and a fire was reported at the the KuibyshevAzot and nearby Togliattikauchuk plants on 21 March.

Zelensky discusses security partnership with Jordan's king
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said he discussed a possible security partnership on Sunday with Jordan's King Abdullah over ⁠defending against drone attacks amid rising tensions over the Iran conflict.

"We discussed a possible partnership in the security sphere and the overall situation in the Middle ⁠East and the Gulf region," ​Zelensky ⁠wrote on Telegram.

Zelensky is seeking support from Gulf states for Ukraine's war against Russia ⁠as Western military aid faces fresh uncertainty and ​Kyiv ⁠struggles to cover ‌its budget deficit and fund domestic weapons production.

Kyiv has offered its air-defence expertise and drone technology to ‌countries seeking to counter Iran's ‌drone attacks.

"From our own experience, we know that without a unified system, it is simply impossible to set ⁠up full-fledged protection of people and critical infrastructure," Zelensky wrote.

Ukraine, he said, had just such a system as in four years of war "we have had to fight against constant Russian strikes, including the use of Iranian drones".

He said Ukraine was offering expertise ‌in the expectation that "those to whom we ​are making this proposal can help ‌us strengthen ourselves".

Ukraine agreed on ⁠Saturday to cooperate on defence with ⁠the United Arab Emirates and Qatar after a visit to both ‌countries by Zelensky, ​who also travelled to ‌Saudi Arabia last week.

Putin faces mutiny from Kremlin's biggest Ukraine war supporters
Russian president Vladimir Putin is likely facing heat over the intensifying Ukrainian offensive on Russian oil and exports facilities.

Television personalities who have supported Moscow’s war effort have started criticising the toll that the offensive is now taking on Russian soldiers.

“We’ve been kicked in the balls again,” Russian state TV anchor Aleksandr Sladkov said, referring to the five-day offensive against Russia’s leading oil facility in Ust-Luga.

“The port in Ust-Luga on the Gulf of Finland is burning again.”
Yuriy Podolyaka, Russia’s biggest pro-war blogger, has accused the Russian military of ineptitude.

“I don’t think we’ll be able to turn the tide here in the next few months,” he said, praising the Ukrainians.“Our enemy is very, very serious and incidentally, very fast-learning, much faster than we are."
Teenager among three killed in Russian attack on Kramatorsk
A Russian ​strike on the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk killed three people and injured ⁠13 yesterday, police said, one of several attacks in frontline areas.

Ukraine's national police said a 13-year-old boy ⁠was among the dead.

A statement said Russian ⁠forces used glide bombs in ​the strike ⁠on Kramatorsk, ‌which has been a frequent target throughout the four-year-old war ‌pitting Kyiv against ‌Moscow.

Kramatorsk came under a new attack two hours after the initial ⁠strike.

Other cities hit in Russian attacks included the nearby town of Oleksiievo-Druzhkivka and the city of Sloviansk, farther north.

Kramatorsk and Sloviansk are heavily defended ‌cities lying on what has ​been dubbed the "fortress ‌belt" – seen as ⁠key targets in Russia's slow ⁠westward advance to capture Donetsk Region.

German defence giant under fire for comparing Ukraine drone makers to ‘housewives’
German defence giant Rheinmetall is facing flak after its CEO compared Ukrainian drone factories to “housewives” making weapons in their kitchens.

Armin Papperger, Rheinmetall’s CEO, was asked by the Atlantic in an interview whether Ukraine’s drone technology could disrupt his industry dominated by artillery, tanks and military vehicles.

“This is how to play with Legos,” Papperger said and compared major Ukrainian drone manufacturers to “housewives”.

“They have 3D printers in the kitchen, and they produce parts for drones," he said, adding: "This is not innovation."
“This is not the technology of Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, or Rheinmetall,” he said.

The comments were strongly condemned in Ukraine for underplaying the massive role Ukrainian drones had played in the war against Russia.

Volodymyr Zelensky’s adviser, Alexander Kamyshin, said the Ukrainian drones had managed to secure major success against Russia’s tanks.

Kamyshin said that in his visits to arms factories he had seen “Ukrainian women working equally with men often enough”, adding: “They deserve respect.”
Rheinmetall on Sunday tagged Kamyshin in a post and said: “We have the utmost respect for the Ukrainian people’s immense efforts in defending themselves.

Every single woman and man in Ukraine is making an immeasurable contribution.”
The backlash has also reached social media where hashtag of #MadeByHousewives has trended on Ukrainian social media.

Ukraine’s prime minister Yulia Svyrydenko said “the people of Ukraine deserve not only utmost respect but to be heard – and learned from.

Yes, Europe’s defence is powered by Ukrainian ‘housewives’,” she said, also adding the #MadeByHousewives hashtag.

Watch: Zelensky visits Jordan as Kyiv looks to shore up Middle east defence ties
Russia's Ust-Luga port damaged by Ukrainian drones as fire breaks out
Russia's Ust-Luga port, one of its largest petroleum export outlets, was damaged yesterday in a ⁠Ukrainian drone attack that sparked a fire, Russian officials said.

Ukraine has intensified drone attacks on Russia's oil and fuel export infrastructure this month, hitting all three ⁠of Russia's major western ​oil ⁠export ports, including Novorossiysk on the Black Sea and Primorsk and Ust-Luga on the ⁠Baltic Sea.

Those attacks have caused severe oil ​supply ⁠disruption for Russia, the ‌world's second-largest oil exporter, and have hit Moscow just as oil prices exceeded $100 a barrel ‌due to the Iran war.

The governor ‌of Russia's northern Leningrad region said there had been waves of Ukrainian drone attacks on the area and that ⁠a fire had broken out at the port of Ust-Luga, which was also hit by drones on Wednesday.

The port, operated by Russian oil pipeline monopoly Transneft, handles around 700,000 barrels per day of oil exports, and, according to sources, ‌shipped 32.9 million metric tonnes of oil ​products in 2025.

Ukraine's SBU security agency ‌said long-range drones struck an ⁠oil terminal at Ust-Luga.

It added ⁠in a statement that the strike caused "serious damage" and a ‌fire at ​the port.

Finland reports territorial violation by drones, at least one from Ukraine
Finland has reported a suspected territorial ⁠violation by unmanned aerial vehicles in the southeast of the country, which the Finnish prime minister said was likely linked to Ukrainian drone attacks against Russia.

Nearby countries Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania said last week that several Ukrainian drones had crashed on ⁠their territory after going astray during ​attacks ⁠on Russian oil export facilities on the Baltic Sea coast.

Ukraine has stepped up drone attacks on Russian oil refineries and export ⁠routes over recent weeks in an attempt to weaken Russia's war ​economy ⁠and as peace talks, brokered ‌by Washington, have stalled.

On Sunday morning, several small, slow-moving objects flying at low altitude were detected over a maritime area and ‌in southeastern Finland, the defence ministry said in ‌a statement.

Finland's prime minister Petteri Orpo said the stray drones seemed to be linked to Ukraine's attacks on Russian targets in Finland's vicinity.

"Russia has extremely strong electronic jamming capabilities, ⁠which could explain why these drones are drifting into Finnish airspace, something that is a very serious issue," Orpo told Finland's public broadcaster Yle.

Finland sent its F/A-18 Hornet fighter jets to recognise flying objects that approached its territorial waters, one of which was identified as a Ukrainian AN196 drone, the Finnish Air Force said.

"The pilot did not open fire ‌in order to avoid collateral damage," it said in a ​statement, adding the drone fell to the ground north of ‌the town of Kouvola in ⁠eastern Finland.

Another drone hit the ground in the same region, ⁠it said.

Ukraine has hit all three major oil ports in western Russia this month: ‌Novorossiysk on the ​Black Sea and Primorsk and Ust-Luga on ‌the Baltic Sea in Finland's ​vicinity.

Ukraine has intensified attacks on Russia's fuel export infrastructure
Putin’s spring offensive in Ukraine has begun.

Experts warn Trump has given Russia a window of opportunity
With war raging in the Middle East , many, including President Volodymyr Zelensky , warned the conflict could hand Vladimir Putin a window of opportunity to accelerate his aggression against Ukraine .

Now, it appears those fears have come true with Russia launching its most brutal attack on the country since the war began on Tuesday, according to the Institute for the Study of War.

A barrage of nearly 1,000 drones were launched over a 24-hour period, killing at least six people.

Russia launched 23 cruise missiles, seven ballistic missiles, hitting at least 10 locations, including a Unesco World Heritage site , according to Ukraine’s air force.

The onslaught affected 11 regions and seven cities were hit, marking it out as the largest aerial attack in a single day so far.

Putin’s spring offensive has begun.

Experts warn US has given Russia an opportunity
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies