The Ukrainian Navy, in collaboration with the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU), successfully destroyed a storage facility for ammunition and reconnaissance UAVs in Chaltyr, a suburb of Rostov-on-Don, using a Neptune missile. The strike location lies approximately 170 kilometers from the front line.
The operation, carried out January 10th night, employed a tactic of overwhelming russian air defenses with drones launched by SSU forces, creating an opening for the Neptune missile to penetrate the defenses, Ukrinform reports citing a source in the Security Service of Ukraine.
Read more: russian Occupiers Move Military Equipment From Crimea to Zaporizhzhia Region
Defense Express also highlights reports from russia about a missile hit on the private enterprise Plastfactor, situated in the vicinity of Chaltyr (the location is also sometimes identified as the small village of Krym nearby).
While Plastfactor specializes in PVC flooring production, adjacent facilities include a transport company, which the russian military has reportedly used for ammunition storage and logistics.
Using civilian trucks for ammunition transport by the russian military has become a widespread practice since 2022 and especially intensified in 2024, as documented by Ukrainian partisans from the ATESH organization. Therefore, keeping ammunition and other weapons on the territory of a transport enterprise falls in line with previously observed russian tactics.
According to Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation, the attacks on Gatchina’s "Ingria Tech," "PlastFactor," and the Chaltyr Brick Plant (Rostov region) targeted sites secretly used by Russia for military production."Russia passes off these plants as ordinary ones,… pic.twitter.com/yZJoyuX6lv — NOELREPORTS (@NOELreports) January 10, 2025
This is not the first time the Neptune missile has been used effectively against such targets. On September 9, 2024, a Neptune strike destroyed approximately 400 Shahed-136/131 loitering munitions stored in a warehouse in Oktyabrskoye, Krasnodar Krai.
The Chaltyr strike once again demonstrates that the russian federation struggles to find resources to cover all gaps in air defenses, even in critical locations near major cities like Rostov-on-Don.
Read more: Satellite Photos Reveal Aftermath of Ukrainian Defense Forces' Strike on Shahed UAV Storage Base in russia's Krasnodar Region
