Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed that his country struck the Progress Rocket Space Center in Russia's Samara region, using ground-launched cruise missiles. The center was involved in electronics production and assembling rockets like the Soyuz-2 vehicle.
The largest city in the Samara Oblast, about 900 km from the Ukrainian border, Samara houses Russia’s most important rocket manufacturer. The Progress Center assembles the workhorse vehicle for Russia, the Soyuz-2, which has a lift capacity of around 8 metric tons to low-Earth orbit. This facility also builds military satellites.
Russia uses the Soyuz-2 rockets for both civil and military purposes, notably for human spacecraft launches to the International Space Station. The strike could lead to concerns over a potential shortage of these vital rockets.
It was not immediately clear which facilities at the sprawling Progress center were damaged. Some reports suggested that a missile struck a building where avionics are produced, possibly related to electronics production mentioned in Zelenskyy’s statement.
