Battles rage in Ukraine as deadly blast rocks Russian military factory

Heavy fighting raged in eastern and southeastern Ukraine on Wednesday as Russia vowed to beef up its defences near European Union and Nato states.

Meanwhile, at least one person was killed and dozens hurt in an explosion at a factory making equipment for Moscow’s military.

Ukraine said its forces had “partial success” in operations in southeastern areas as they try to push towards the occupied cities of Berdyansk and Melitopol, and had halted a Russian “assault group” near Kupiansk in the eastern Kharkiv region, which was now “the main direction of the enemy offensive”.

Kyiv’s military also said it had destroyed eight enemy ammunition depots in southeastern areas and struck a Russian command post in the occupied town of Nova Kakhovka on the Moscow-controlled eastern shore of the Dnipro river. Ukraine did not confirm reports that its special forces had attacked Russian positions across the Dnipro in Kherson region and seized a portion of the river bank.

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Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy discussed the counteroffensive with his top military and intelligence commanders on Wednesday, while one of his senior advisers, Mykhailo Podolyak, brushed off reports that Kyiv’s allies were disappointed with the progress of a counteroffensive that was launched in June.

Kyiv’s ground forces – working without effective air support – have struggled to move through heavily mined and fortified areas of occupied territory. Mr Podolyak said “everyone needs to be patient and closely monitor the high-quality work of the armed forces of Ukraine. They will in any case achieve a mandatory and fair conclusion. Russia will cease to exist as a military threat after the war in Ukraine . . . Meanwhile, offensive operations continue.”

Russia said it was inflicting heavy losses on Ukraine’s military and prevented it from making any significant gains, almost 18 months into an all-out invasion that has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced millions of Ukrainian civilians.

Ukraine has made increasing use of drone attacks on targets inside Russia, and Moscow said air defence units shot down two explosive-laden drones in the suburbs of the city early on Wednesday.

A few hours later, a huge explosion in the town of Sergiyev Posad, about 70km northeast of central Moscow, destroyed large parts of a factory that makes optical equipment for the Russian military, killing at least one person and injuring more than 50.

Footage from the area showed a huge column of smoke rising from the Zagorsk plant and workers described being thrown to the floor by a blast that also damaged more than 20 other buildings in the area.

Moscow officials and investigators said the explosion took place in an area of the industrial site that was being rented by a fireworks company, and blamed an unspecified breach of safety procedures – not a drone strike – for the incident.

Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu said Moscow would respond to perceived danger from Poland’s plans to strengthen its military and from Finland’s accession to Nato and Sweden’s bid to join the alliance.

“These threats to Russia’s military security require a timely and adequate response. We will discuss the necessary measures to neutralise them . . . and make appropriate decisions,” he said.

Poland said on Wednesday it was sending an additional 2,000 troops to its border with Belarus – Moscow chief ally in its invasion of Ukraine – amid fears over illegal migration and the relocation of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group to a camp in Belarus.