Azot strike, Lipetsk steelworks fire and Russian air defence hits: 28 October 2026 report

On the morning of 28 October, drones attacked the NAK Azot chemical plant in Novomoskovsk, Tula region. Exilenova+ published footage of a fire at the facility. Further videos of the blaze appeared throughout the morning.

The plant belongs to the EuroChem group and produces ammonia, ammonium nitrate, urea and other chemicals. Azot also supplied nitric acid to the Sverdlov plant in Dzerzhinsk, which manufactures explosives for ammunition.

In its preliminary analysis of the footage, Militarnyi suggested that the AM-70 ammonia production unit may have been hit. The precise list of damaged equipment is still being established.

The attack follows a series of strikes on Russia’s chemical industry. Our article on rubber plants and Iskander missile production explains why some of the industry’s products are needed by missile manufacturers.

Reports of an attack on Lipetsk began emerging on the evening of 27 October. Initial publications appeared before midnight, and Ukrainian media continued reporting on the incident overnight into 28 October.

According to Exilenova+ and Supernova+, Russian air defences operated over the city, after which a fire was recorded near the Novolipetsk Steelworks, known as NLMK.

The steelworks produces steel and rolled metal for engineering, industry and equipment manufacturing.

The material published so far supports reports of a fire near the plant. A strike on specific NLMK production units has not yet been confirmed. Reports of a blaze in the direction of the local airfield also require further verification.

On 27 October and overnight into 28 October, Ukrainian forces struck three Russian air defence and electronic warfare assets:

• A Tor surface-to-air missile system near Rzhava, Kursk region.
• A radar station near Maloye Gorodkovo, Kursk region.
• An electronic warfare station near Semyachki, Bryansk region.

A military supply depot near Valerianivka in occupied Donetsk region was also hit.

On 28 October, OSINT project CyberBoroshno published an analysis of satellite imagery of the Energia plant in Yelets, Lipetsk region.

The analysts assessed that the images show four impacts on production buildings, destroyed roofs and fire damage.

The plant manufactures batteries and specialised power sources for Russian weapons, including Iskander, Kinzhal and Zircon missiles, Pantsir systems and guided aerial munitions.

The missile strike on the plant took place on 25 October.

According to the General Staff’s morning figures as of 28 October, the Russian army lost an estimated 1,510 personnel over the previous day. Total personnel losses since the start of the full-scale invasion reached approximately 1,583,350.

The daily equipment losses also included 21 artillery systems, seven unmanned ground vehicles, 1,543 drones, two cruise missiles and 266 vehicles and fuel tankers.

According to a report published on 28 October, units of the Unmanned Systems Forces grouping destroyed or hit 1,891 Russian targets on 27 October.

Russian personnel losses from their operations totalled 511 killed or wounded, including 225 killed.

Other results included eight radars and electronic warfare assets, four artillery systems, 15 depots and 386 drones.

For 1–27 October, the grouping reported 57,555 targets hit or destroyed and 14,587 Russian personnel killed or wounded.