Ukrainian deep-strike drones hit technology plant 800 miles inside Russian border

Ukraine has carried out one of its deepest drone strikes of the entire war into Russian territory.

Two long-range drones hit an electronics factory in Cheboksary, 800 miles inside Russia.

The Progress plant manufactures electro-mechanical drives and hydraulic systems used in Russia's self-propelled howitzers.

• Caught in the web: How Operation Spiderweb cost the Russian air force dearly
• Crimea Bridge linking Russia and Crimea hit by underwater explosives, claims Ukraine
• Tenfold increase in UK drone deliveries for Ukraine in wake of strike on Russian airbases

More importantly, the factory also specialises in developing electronic warfare systems, as well as guidance and flight control modules used in some of Russia's most effective missiles and drones.

These include the Iskander M ballistic missile, the Kalibr cruise missile, the Lancet loitering munition and Shahed drones.

The modules are also apparently used in Russian glide bombs, Soviet-era dumb weapons that are retrofitted with wings and guidance systems.

Despite images apparently showing the contrary, Russian officials claimed no one was injured in the attack and production was only temporarily suspended.

Russian news agencies also said air defence units destroyed 49 Ukrainian drones overnight.

In Krasnodar Krai, the part of Russia closest to Crimea, a Russian KH-52 helicopter was filmed chasing down a Ukrainian fixed-wing drone, eventually shooting it down with an air-to-air missile.

Ukrainian Shahed

The AN-196 drones that were used in the Cheboksary factory attack have been dubbed the "Ukrainian Shahed".

These are the same drones that were used to attack the Saratov oil refinery in February.

This attack came as Russia also launched a massive drone strike on Ukraine.

Ukraine's air force said Russia used 479 drones and 20 missiles during overnight attacks, but almost all of them were brought down.

President Zelensky says Kyiv plans to build 30,000 long-range drones this year and, in March, Ukraine said it had completed testing on a new drone with a 3,000-kilometre range.

But Kyiv's production capacity still lags far behind Russia's, with the latest reports suggesting Moscow is now producing 5,000 long-range drones a month.

These include 2,700 Shahed 136s and some 2,500 decoy drones that are used to overwhelm Ukrainian air defences.

That's a five-fold increase since last summer.