Ukraine Hits Russian Military-Linked Chemical Plant 1,700 Kilometers From the Border

Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) struck Russia's Metafrax Chemicals plant in Perm region, 1,700 kilometers from the Ukrainian border, halting production at a facility that supplies dozens of Russian military producers, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced on May 23.

Zelenskyy disclosed the operation in a post on X, thanking the SBU and framing the strike as "an important long-range sanction" against Russia's chemical industry.

"I am grateful to the Security Service of Ukraine for striking one of Russia's important military-industrial enterprises. The distance from our border is 1,700 kilometers – Perm Region," Zelenskyy wrote.

According to Zelenskyy, Metafrax Chemicals supplies dozens of Russian military production facilities, including manufacturers of aircraft components, drones, missile engines, and explosives. That makes the plant part of Russia’s upstream supply chain for weapons production, not just a civilian chemical facility.

Zelenskyy added that the production process at the facility had been halted following the strike.

Strikes on Russia's chemical industry have been a recurring element of Ukraine's deep-strike campaign in recent weeks, with long-range drones hitting the Nevinnomyssk Azot plant in Russia's Stavropol region overnight on May 16.

Considered one of Russia's largest chemical enterprises, that facility produces ammonia, nitric acid, and acetic acid—chemicals supplied in tens of thousands of tons to a Russian plant manufacturing military explosives for artillery ammunition.

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