Ukraine's General Staff said its forces struck the Orenburg Gas Processing Plant and two Russian satellite communications centres overnight before June 24, 2026, extending Kyiv's campaign against energy and military infrastructure deep inside Russia. The claims could not be independently verified, and Russian officials did not immediately comment on the reported sites.
The Orenburg complex lies in the southern Urals near Kazakhstan, more than 1,200 kilometres from the front. Ukraine said the attack started a fire at one of the world's largest gas-processing facilities. The same complex contains Russia's only helium plant, according to the General Staff.
Kyiv said the facility produces helium used in liquid-fuel rocket engines and guidance systems, as well as ethane used to make solid rocket fuel and gunpowder. Those descriptions came from the Ukrainian military and were presented as its explanation of the target's strategic value.
The General Staff also reported strikes on the Dubna Space Communications Center near Moscow and another facility in the Vladimir region east of the capital. It described the sites as serving the Russian military. The statement did not say whether missiles or drones carried out the attacks.
Russia's Defence Ministry said its forces shot down 323 Ukrainian drones overnight. Regional officials reported two people killed and two wounded by a drone strike in Nizhny Novgorod, while another person died in the Belgorod border region. These were Russian official figures.
Ukraine also continued attacks on Russian-held Crimea. A drone strike cut electricity in Sevastopol, according to the city's Moscow-appointed governor. Ukraine's Security Service said it hit two military airfields and destroyed missile systems on the peninsula. Kyiv aims to disrupt supply routes through Crimea, which Russia annexed illegally in 2014.
Russian attacks continued in the opposite direction. Ukraine's air force recorded 101 long-range drones overnight. Regional officials said a Russian drone killed a 56-year-old woman in Balakliia and a guided bomb killed a 57-year-old streetcar driver near Sumy. The death toll from a Russian ballistic missile carrying cluster munitions that hit Kryvyi Rih the day before rose to four.
In northern Ukraine, authorities ordered mandatory evacuations in communities along the Belarus border from July 1. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia was trying to draw Belarus further into the war, an allegation denied by both Moscow and Minsk.
Zelenskyy also said Russian air defences had been redeployed toward Moscow and the Kerch Bridge. His claim reflected Ukraine's assessment, not an independently confirmed movement. The bridge links occupied Crimea to Russia and is important to military supply.
The overnight attacks showed both countries continuing to project force far beyond the battlefield. Damage claims remained difficult to verify, while confirmed civilian casualty reports illustrated the immediate cost of the expanding drone and missile campaign.
