By ILLIA NOVIKOV
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Long-range Ukrainian drones and missiles hit a significant Russian ammunition plant, a crucial oil terminal, and an essential weapons depot behind the front line, Ukraine’s president and military reported on Monday, as Kyiv increased pressure on Moscow’s military logistics.
The Ukrainian General Staff announced it targeted the Sverdlov ammunition plant in the Nizhny Novgorod region of western Russia overnight, which led to multiple explosions and a fire. The plant is said to supply Russian forces with aviation and artillery ordnance, aviation bombs, and anti-aircraft and anti-tank munitions.
Ukraine also hit an oil terminal in Crimea, starting a blaze, and an ammunition depot of Russia’s 18th Combined Arms Army, the General Staff said.
Russian authorities confirmed a substantial Ukrainian drone offensive over 14 Russian regions, including the annexed Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea and areas around the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. However, they provided few specifics beyond stating that air defenses shot down 251 Ukrainian drones, marking it as one of the largest Ukrainian assaults on Russian territory since the war commenced more than three years ago.
Gleb Nikitin, the governor of the Nizhny Novgorod region, mentioned that air defenses thwarted an attack by 20 Ukrainian drones on a local industrial zone containing the ammo plant, noting that no facilities sustained damage.
Ukraine’s long-range attacks on refineries and other oil facilities contributed to Russian fuel shortages at the pump in August.
Ukraine’s own weapons productions grows
Enhancing domestically produced weapons, particularly drones, has been a primary objective for Ukrainian authorities as they aim to counter Russia’s invasion and extend their reach deeper into Russia with strikes that exert military, political, and social pressure on President Vladimir Putin.
Although Russia’s national economy and military are larger than Ukraine’s, Kyiv has largely restricted Russian advances to slow and costly gains across the Ukrainian countryside, as advanced drone technology partially compensates for its shortage of troops.
Uncertain of what Western military support it can count on to thwart Russia’s invasion, Ukraine has swiftly developed its defense manufacturing capacity. It is already sharing its drone expertise with European countries and is discussing possible technology and production cooperation with the United States.
Ukrainian officials have suggested they would like the United States to supply Tomahawk cruise missiles so that more Russian assets in the rear can be targeted. Meantime, Ukraine is increasingly using domestically developed long-range drones, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday, and Ukraine expects to expand such capabilities if it can ensure funding from abroad.
He also indicated that Ukraine had used its own missiles for the strikes on Russian soil.
“The main thing to understand is that in recent days Ukraine has used exclusively Ukrainian-made weapons, not only drones,” Zelenskyy said during a press conference with Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof in Kyiv.
“We expect greater capabilities, but they depend on financial resources,” he said.
Many Ukrainian weapons on the front are domestically produced
Ukraine’s mushrooming defense industry could begin exporting surplus weapons production by the end of this year, using the revenue to help buy sophisticated systems it can’t make itself, Zelenskyy said Monday.
By the end of this year, Ukraine hopes to provide at least half the weapons its troops need on the front line, Zelenskyy told a defense industry forum in Kyiv.
“Already at the front, more than 40% of the weapons used are weapons produced in Ukraine or with Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said in a speech.
Ukraine last year produced and delivered 2.4 million shells to the front line, according to the Ukrainian leader.
Ukraine is currently producing 40 Bohdana self-propelled artillery systems a month, Zelenskyy said. By comparison, the production rate in April 2024 stood at 10 units per month.
“The time has come to launch the export of our Ukrainian weapons — those types of weapons that we have in surplus, and therefore can be exported, so that there is funding for those types of weapons that are especially needed for defense,” Zelenskyy said in a speech, possibly referring to American-made Patriot air defense systems.
He said Ukraine already has agreements to start exports to Europe, the United States and the Middle East, and purchases could begin by the end of this year.
Hanna Arhirova in Kyiv, Ukraine, contributed.
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Originally Published: October 6, 2025 at 12:50 PM EDT
