Ukraine destroys £16m of prime Russian navy tools as key advance stalls

A fireplace at a manufacturing facility in Voronezh resulted within the destruction of two digital warfare techniques essential to Russia’s air defences. The inferno erupted on the Protek industrial facility on January 28, the place the R-330Zh “Zhitel” is manufactured.

Every unit carries an estimated price ticket of US$10 million (£8 million), with many at present deployed on the Ukrainian battlefield. Regardless of the fireplace happening on the finish of January, it was solely immediately (February 17) that Ukraine’s navy intelligence confirmed the incident and the extent of the injury.

A video shared by the company on its social media platforms depicts a manufacturing facility constructing consumed by flames, with dense smoke billowing from the home windows. A press release launched learn: “On the evening of January 27-28, 2025, two costly enemy R-330Zh ‘Zhyel’ digital warfare techniques have been destroyed in Voronezh, Russia.”

It additional defined: “These automated stations have been situated on the Protek plant, the place they’re manufactured.”

The assertion additionally revealed that the Russians had meant to dispatch the models to the “fight zone of the legal struggle in opposition to Ukraine”, describing their obliteration as a “severe loss”.

Whereas Ukraine’s navy intelligence didn’t touch upon what sparked the fireplace, Voronezh has been a frequent goal of drone assaults. Digital warfare (EW) has historically been a cornerstone of Russian and Soviet navy energy.

The R-330Zh was initially designed to defend brigade or division-level command posts from precision-guided munitions.

It has the potential to detect, monitor, and disrupt the Inmarsat and Iridium satellite tv for pc communications and GSM-1900 cellphones, in addition to intervene with GPS navigation techniques.

The models are more and more being utilized to counter Ukrainian drone assaults, that are inflicting important disruptions on each the battlefield and deep inside Russia.

Within the meantime, Russia’s advance in direction of the strategically important metropolis of Pokrovsk on the japanese entrance seems to be shedding momentum.

Viktor Tregubov, a Ukrainian navy spokesperson, introduced that the village of Pishchane had been retaken following a profitable counterattack.

He acknowledged: “The village is situated about 5 kilometeres south of Pokrovsk. Russian troops have additionally been pushed again from a number of different close by settlements.”

Whereas acknowledging that the state of affairs can change quickly on the entrance, he added: “However plainly within the Pokrovsk sector, a sure turning level has occurred, albeit cautiously talking.”