Ukrainian army says it struck Russian gunpowder plant
The Ukrainian military says it has struck a major Russian gunpowder plant in the western Tambov region, causing a fire at the site.
The Ukrainian military characterised the plant as one of the main facilities in Russia's military industrial complex.
"It produces gunpowder for various types of small arms, artillery and rocket systems," it said in a statement on Telegram.
Tambov regional Governor Yevgeny Pervyshov said early on Wednesday that Russian defences had repelled a "massive attack" by Ukrainian drones on the town of Kotovsk, which independent Russian media identified as the site of a gunpowder plant.
He said one downed drone had caused a fire but no casualties, and the situation was under control.
Pervyshov also told people not to film and publish images of air defence operations and attempted attacks, as this would provide "direct assistance to the enemy".
The Tambov gunpowder plant produces propellant powders used in charges for ammunition for 122 mm and 152 mm howitzers, according to a report from the Royal United Services Institute and the Open Source Centre.
The Ukrainian military also said that it recorded explosions at an ammunition depot in Russia's Kursk region and an airfield depot in Russia's Voronezh region.
Reuters was not able to independently confirm the incidents.
Ukraine accepted the bodies of 1212 of its fallen soldiers from Russia after days of dispute, the Ukrainian agency dealing with prisoners of war said on Wednesday.
The soldiers died in battles in Russia's Kursk region and the Ukrainian regions of Kharkiv, Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, the agency said.
Russia received 27 killed soldiers in return, Russian chief negotiator Vladimir Medinsky said.
"Now they can be laid to rest in a Christian manner," he wrote on Telegram.
Russia has for days accused Ukraine of failing to accept the remains, and called on Ukrainian authorities to comply with agreements reached between the warring parties in talks in Istanbul at the beginning of the month.
Russia transported the bodies ready for handover over the weekend in what it termed a "humanitarian action" while Ukraine said that no agreement on a handover date had been reached.
The Istanbul talks provided for the return of the remains of more than 6000 fallen soldiers from Russia to Ukraine.
Work on implementing the Istanbul agreements will continue, Medinsky said, with an exchange of seriously wounded prisoners of war to take place on Thursday.
Ukraine and Russia had already exchanged an unspecified number of prisoners in recent days.
In Istanbul, it was agreed that each side would release in stages 1200 prisoners - those under 25, the seriously wounded and the seriously ill.
Ukraine has been defending itself against a Russian invasion for more than three years.
During the war, there have been repeated exchanges of prisoners and the return of bodies.
A Russian drone strike on the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv killed at least two people and injured dozens, local media reported early on Wednesday.
with DPA
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