Ukraine fires kamikaze drones at a major gas producer and missile factory in Russia as Kiev hits a series of military targets overnight

Russia's war effort has been put on hold after Ukrainian kamikaze drones successfully hit a major liquefied natural gas (LNG) processor and a missile factory on the same night.

Video footage showed two massive explosions at the Novatek factory in the Leningrad region's Ust-Luga port, setting off a raging fire at the site, which is just 130 kilometers from St. Petersburg.

A Ukrainian official separately claimed that drones struck the Shcheglovsky Val defense company in Tula, which produces the Pantsir-S and Pantsir-S1 air defense missile systems used to defend key locations including Vladimir Putin's palaces.

There were also Ukrainian attacks on the Smolensk, Oryol and Bryansk regions, prompting clashes with Russian air defenses in one of Kiev's most intense nights of war attacking military-affiliated targets in Russia.

Huge fireballs were seen flying through the sky at the strategically important site of Ust-Luga, which in 2022 processed almost 7 million tons of gas products, a major export that added an estimated €5.29 billion to Putin's war chest through sales to the EU alone already .

A missile manufacturer in Tula was also blown up by Ukrainian kamikaze drones

After the attack, fire was seen rising into the sky

Local media reported that drones struck the Novatek facility at 3:20 a.m. local time, although the Russian Defense Ministry has not yet reported any attacks.

Novatek's Ust-Luga processes gas condensate, which is itself a processed version of LNG, and turns it into products such as jet fuel, gas oil and naphtha, and ships them around the world.

About 150 people were evacuated from the Kremlin-linked Novatek natural gas terminal, located some 880 kilometers (550 miles) from the nearest Ukrainian border.

'The factory is located in the coastal zone, next to a specialized terminal where products and gas condensate are loaded onto ships and sent for export. At the time of the explosion, three large tankers were at the berths, arriving in Ust-Luga from Belgium, Oman and Libya,” the pre-war channel Two Majors Telegram reported.

“No casualties were reported as a result of a fire at the Novatek terminal at the Ust-Luga port,” Leningrad Region Governor Alexander Drozdenko said.

Ukraine has stepped up the use of improvised drones to attack major Russian targets

A Ukrainian soldier from the Rarog UAV squadron of the 24th Separate Mechanized Brigade operates a first person view (FPV) drone at a position near the town of Horlivka

The Ukrainians have been forced to adapt and improvise to push back invaders

Ukrainian infantrymen stand guard in the trenches on the front line, towards Bakhmut

'The staff was evacuated. A high alert regime has been introduced in the Kingisepp district.”

Local residents reported two drones in the air prior to the attack on the Novatek facility.

They drove towards Saint Petersburg before changing direction to target the Ust-Luga complex.

An eyewitness said: 'Damn, I just witnessed an explosion. Something serious [happened] over there.'

Another video recorded an exchange that read, “Kolya, why did you decide it was a drone? Did you see it?'

The missile factory in Tula is now located about 320 kilometers from the Ukrainian border.

Footage showed at least one massive explosion at what was said to be Russia's most important defense facility.

Russia claimed to have downed a drone, but footage showed a distinct explosion on the ground.

Ukrainian official Anton Gerashchenko wrote: “According to local residents, in Tula there was a powerful visit to the defense enterprise Shcheglovsky Val, which produces the anti-aircraft missile systems Pantsir-S and Pantsir-S1 and also modernizes several armored vehicles. '

The extent and nature of any damage were initially unclear.

Western officials believe that recovery from Putin's invasion of Ukraine could take up to 30 years, given the amount of money spent on the military.