On the night of Friday, May 25, drones struck two important facilities of Russia’s military-industrial complex, said Andriy Kovalenko, head of the Disinformation Counteraction Center at the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine.
“The Nevinnomyssk Nitrogen Plant (Nevinnomyssk Azot) in Stavropol Krai produces chemical raw materials for explosives, including nitric acid and ammonium nitrate. It is a key supplier for the production of ammunition, including artillery shells, aerial bombs, and multiple rocket launcher systems (MLRS),” Kovalenko stated in a message on his Telegram channel.
Additionally, the Kotovsky Gunpowder Plant in the Tambov region was hit — one of the oldest and strategically important enterprises of Russia’s defense industry.
“It specializes in producing a wide range of gunpowder for small arms, artillery, MLRS, aviation, and missile systems. Its products are used by dozens of defense enterprises. In fact, without Kotovsky, neither the Grad nor the Smerch systems fire,” Kovalenko emphasized.
Nevinnomyssk Azot, owned by Russia’s largest fertilizer producer EuroChem, was previously attacked by Ukrainian drones on June 14. During that attack, windows and doors in one of the workshops were broken, and the anti-drone defense system was damaged. About 800 chemical plant employees took shelter in a bomb shelter during the attack. The plant’s operations were temporarily suspended.
Between 2022 and 2024, Nevinnomyssk Azot and Novomoskovsk Azot sent at least 38,000 tons of acetic acid and nearly 5,000 tons of nitric acid to the Sverdlov plant in Dzerzhinsk, Nizhny Novgorod region. These substances are used to produce octogen and hexogen, which in turn are used for artillery shells.
Nevinnomyssk Azot is a “critical element” of Russia’s military-industrial complex, wrote Andriy Kovalenko, head of the Disinformation Counteraction Center at the NSDC of Ukraine, on his Telegram channel. He noted that the plant produces up to one million tons of ammonia and more than one million tons of ammonium nitrate annually. These materials are used in the manufacture of explosives and artillery shells. In addition, the plant produces melamine, acetic acid, methanol, and potassium nitrate, which are also necessary for the production of high-explosive ammunition and rocket charges.
