Ukraine Drone Attack Hits Russian Electronic Warfare Plant; Moscow Claims Kyiv, West Rejecting Diplomacy

3 years into the war, Russia and Ukraine continue to engage actively as several rounds of talks failed to yield any positive outcome. Less than a week after talks in Istanbul, Ukraine sent its drones to strategic locations in Russia, striking the country’s radio and electronic warfare equipment plant.

The plant in Russia’s Stavropol region was one the leading producers of EW equipment make, including radar, radio navigation equipment, and remote control radio equipment. Ukraine’s drone attack came days after a wave of deadly Russian missiles hit Ukraine, affecting residents in Kyiv and other major Ukrainian cities.

Ukraine’s latest drone attack on Saturday (July 26) damaged 2 facilities at the Signal plant in Stavropol, about 540 km from the Ukrainian border, an official from the SBU security service told Reuters.

What happened in Ukraine’s latest drone attack on Russia?

While the strikes affected a key electrical warfare plant in Russia’s Stavropol, they also disrupted the railway and air travel. Due to these drone strikes, Russian civil aviation authority had to shut down the airport in Volgograd. With this, the railway services were also affected in the region.

In view of the strikes, Russia sounded several air raid alerts in several other regions in the west and south.

As per the informed shared by Ukraine’s SBU official, long-range drones struck the production facilities of the Stavropol Radio Plant ‘Signal’. “Each such attack stops production processes and reduces the enemy’s military potential. This work will continue,” the official added.

Are drone attacks common between Russia and Ukraine?

The conflict between the two started in February 2022 with Russia launching an invasion of Ukraine and since then, both sides have traded multiple drone attacks. Prior to the recent attack by Ukraine, Russia had sent several drones in the Ukrainian sky, however, most of them were shot down.

It is worth mentioning here that Ukraine, much smaller in size than Russia has a very small army compared to the massive Russian army but has been fighting since the conflict began. Since then, it has also developed a drone industry from scratch, considering UAVs strategic role in modern warfare.

What happened to Ukraine-Russia peace talks?

Last week on July 23, officials from the two countries met in Turkey to discuss peace, in their first such meet in 7 weeks. They talked about prisoner swaps during the brief talks, however, remained very distant on ceasefire terms and a possible meeting of their leaders.

After the talks that are reported to have lasted less than an hour, Ukraine’s chief delegate Rustem Umerov said they have progress on the humanitarian track, with no progress on a cessation of hostilities. He added Russia can demonstrate its constructive approach by agreeing to their proposal of a meeting before the end of August.

On the other hand, Russia’s chief delegate Vladimir Medinsky said the point of such a meeting should be to sign an agreement, not to “discuss everything from scratch”.

Moreover, Russia has now blamed Ukraine and the West of rejecting diplomacy.

Why is Russia blaming Kyiv and the West?

Suggesting that it would like a political and diplomatic means to resolve conflict in Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Kyiv and the West rejected that path. Russian news agencies quoted him as saying, “Our preferred route is through political and diplomatic means”.

Moscow continues its military operation in Ukraine because “all proposals for dialogue were rejected, both by Ukraine and by Western countries,” the Russian leader added.