Russia Strikes Multiple Sites in Ukraine in Response to Long-Range Missile Attacks

Targets reportedly included a command center operated by the Ukrainian Security Service.

People leave the site of a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in central Kyiv, Ukraine Dec.20, 2024. Reuters/Yan Dobronosov

Russia has struck multiple targets in Ukraine in response to an earlier long-range missile attack on its southern Rostov region, Moscow’s Ministry of Defence has said.

“The Russian military retaliated against Kiev’s attack on the Rostov Region by launching a group strike with long-range precision weapons,” the ministry said in a Dec. 20 statement, cited by Russian state news agency TASS.

Targets included “the Ukrainian Security Service [SBU] control point, the Kiev-based Luch design bureau ... as well as the position of a Patriot anti-aircraft missile system,” the ministry said.

According to the ministry, Kyiv’s Luch design bureau “carries out the design and production of Neptune missile systems and Olkha land-based cruise missiles.”

“The goals of the strike were achieved and all facilities were hit,” it added.

As of publication time, The Epoch Times could not independently verify all of the ministry’s assertions.

Local officials in Kyiv, cited by Reuters, said at least 11 people were injured—and several buildings damaged—by a missile attack on the capital, which was rocked by multiple explosions.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said one person had been killed.

According to Serhiy Popko, the head of Kyiv’s military administration, the attack caused fires and damaged office buildings.

The Russian attack involved eight missiles, including hypersonic Kinzhal missiles and Iskander/KN-23 ballistic missiles, Popko said.

According to Moscow, the strikes were retaliation for a Dec. 18 Ukrainian missile attack on Russia’s southern Rostov region.

In a Dec. 19 statement, Russia’s Ministry of Defence said that a ten-missile salvo had targeted Rostov’s Kamensky chemical production site.

Citing “confirmed data,” the ministry said the attack had employed six missiles fired by the U.S.-made ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile System), along with four UK-made Storm Shadow cruise missiles.

All six ATACMS and three Storm Shadow missiles were downed by Russia’s S-400, Buk-M3, and Pantsir air-defense systems working in combination, the ministry said.

The fourth Storm Shadow was “deflected” from the target, it added, causing a “technical structure” in the vicinity to be damaged by falling debris.

“These actions by the Kiev regime supported by Western handlers won’t be left unanswered,” the ministry said at the time.

A member of the British military walks past a Storm Shadow missile at the Farnborough Airshow, southwest of London, England, on July 17, 2018. Ben Stansall/AFP via Getty Images

Kyiv has yet to confirm the reported strike on Rostov, which The Epoch Times could not independently verify.

On Dec. 18, the pro-Ukrainian Kyiv Independent cited Andrii Kovalenko, head of Ukraine’s counter-disinformation center, as saying the chemical plant in Rostov had been successfully struck.

The newspaper provided a link to Kovalenko’s Telegram channel, which features video footage purporting to show a large explosion at the chemical plant.

According to the Kyiv Independent, the Kamensky plant is among Russia’s largest chemical production facilities.

It produces rocket fuel and components used to manufacture ammunition and explosives, the newspaper cited Kovalenko as saying.

The plant is “engaged in the production of rocket fuel,” the Ukrainian official said.

The Kamensky plant has reportedly been placed under Western sanctions for its role in Russia’s ongoing invasion of eastern Ukraine, which will enter its fourth year in February.

The reported attack on the plant in Rostov follows several previous Ukrainian long-range missile strikes on targets located inside Russia.

On Dec. 11, Ukrainian forces fired six ATACMS missiles at a military airfield located near Rostov’s city of Taganrog.

At the time, Russia’s defense ministry said two missiles were downed by Russian Pantsir air-defense batteries, while the rest were neutralized by electronic jamming systems.

On Nov. 19, Ukraine fired six ATACMS missiles into Russia’s western Bryansk region.

Two days later, it fired a combination of U.S.-made HIMARS and Storm Shadow missiles into Russia’s neighboring region of Kursk.

Those attacks came shortly after the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden reportedly gave Kyiv permission—in a dramatic policy shift—to use advanced Western missile systems to strike targets deep inside Russia.

In a recent interview with Time magazine, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump called Washington’s policy reversal a “big mistake.”

“I disagree very vehemently with sending missiles hundreds of miles into Russia,” Trump said in the interview, published on Dec. 12.

Trump has repeatedly pledged to end the ongoing conflict upon returning to office for his second, albeit non-consecutive, term on Jan. 20.

Reuters contributed to this report.