2 dead in a Russian attack on a Ukrainian city while a blast near Moscow kills 1 and wounds dozens
TALLINN, Estonia — A Russian rocket attack on Wednesday killed two people and wounded at least seven others in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, which is near Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, Ukrainian officials said.
Although regional governor Yuriy Malashko initially said three people died in the attack on a residential area, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko later said two people died and one other person had been resuscitated.
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The city lies about 50 kilometers (30 miles) northeast of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, which has been occupied by Russian forces since the early weeks of the war. Shelling in the plant’s surroundings have raised persistent fears of a nuclear accident.
In Russia, an explosion on the grounds of a factory that makes optical equipment for Russia’s security forces north of Moscow killed one person, wounded 60 others and left at least eight people unaccounted for, officials said.
Russian officials did not provide a suspected cause of the explosion in the city of Sergiev Posad, which produced a tall plume of black smoke and added to jitters over recent nighttime drone attacks on Moscow. Earlier, officials said Russian air defenses shot down two drones aimed at the capital overnight, and they accused Ukraine of an attempted attack.
The blast occurred at a warehouse storing fireworks but was on the grounds of the Zagorsk optics manufacturing plant, said Andrei Vorobyov, the governor of the region surrounding the Russian capital. The explosion damaged 38 apartment buildings and prompted an evacuation of nearby areas, he said.
Vorobyov said the company rented out the warehouse for storage, but he later claimed the plant itself was mostly producing pyrotechnics. He said the Zagorsk Optical-Mechanical Plant “has had nothing to do with optics or mechanics for a long time.”
The company’s website says it still manufactures those products, as well as medical equipment. A 1995 report by the U.S. Department of Commerce described the factory as “a producer of precision optical equipment for the military.”
Russian investigative news outlet Agentstvo reported Wednesday that state procurement data from recent years showed the plant supplied binoculars and dosimeters to Russia’s National Guard, produced equipment for military aircraft and was involved in the development of a new fighter-bomber.
Russian authorities feared five people were missing in the aftermath of the explosion. Emergency crews with sniffer dogs walked over the rubble of low brick buildings, video from the scene showed. Firefighters hosed down the mangled industrial wreckage.
Some Russian media reported that a drone attack caused the blast at the manufacturing plant site. Multiple Russian authorities, including Vorobyov and Russia’s Investigative Committee, denied that.
The Investigative Committee, Russia’s top criminal investigations agency, said in a statement it has launched a criminal inquiry on charges of violating industrial safety requirements at hazardous production facilities.
Russian officials described the downed drones as Ukraine’s latest attempt to strike the Russian capital in an alleged campaign to unnerve Muscovites and take the war in Ukraine to Russia.
The drones were intercepted on their approach to Moscow and there were no casualties, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said. The Russian Defense Ministry described the incident as a “terrorist attack.”
