The sprawling factory in Dnipro bears the scars of regular Russian missile strikes. Some of the windows have been blown out and the concrete is charred on several buildings.
Last month the factory was hit by a Russian hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile, marking an escalation in the conflict.
“One of the largest and well-known industrial complexes from the Soviet Union, which today produces missile technology and other weapons, was hit in the city of Dnipro in Ukraine,” President Putin boasted in a live TV address.
Emergency workers after the missile attack on Dnipro
Putin’s use of the Oreshnik missile was interpreted as a warning to the West, a response to Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory using US Atacms and British Storm Shadow missiles.
But the decision to target the Pivdenmash factory, known as