Ukraine blitzes Russian rocket & space plant with deadly Flamingo missiles in ‘huge blow to Putin’s Starlink system’

VLADIMIR Putin’s precious rocket and space centre in Russia – where the Kremlin is speculated to be developing its answer to Elon Musk’s Starlink – has been bombed. Footage circulating on social media shows the TsSKB-Progress complex in the Samara region on fire and a column of smoke rising. Fire raging at a key Russian rocket plant in the Samara region Credit: East2West Plumes of smoke rising from the site Credit: East2West It is the key aerospace enterprise under Roscosmos, behind Soyuz-2 space rockets and Earth-observation satellites. Ukrainian open-source group CyberBoroshno said the strike most likely hit Building 106A, where onboard equipment is installed on Soyuz-2 launch vehicles. Sign up for The Sun newsletter Thank you! Analysts said: “Building 106A operates under a high cleanroom standard: this is where onboard electrical systems, instruments and printed circuit boards are installed – essentially the launch vehicle’s ‘nervous system’: the control system, cable network and instrumentation compartment. “Without this stage, the rocket cannot be assembled, even when the body and tanks are ready.” Ukraine shared a picture of the Flamingo missile The moment of the blast in Samara Credit: East2West A major motive behind the attack may have been to disrupt the launches of Rassvet satellites – Russia’s answer to Starlink. The Kremlin is racing to build its own low-orbit satellite Internet system to provide connections for its forces, and especially for long-range drones. Ukraine gained an edge on the battlefield earlier this year after Musk was persuaded by former Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov to cut off access for Russia. That majorly complicated communications and targeting in Putin’s war. Most read in The Sun The site is about 600 miles from the Ukrainian border Credit: East2West A close-up picture of the smoke engulfing the region Credit: East2West Now Russia is racing to build Rassvet, a copycat to SpaceX’s Starlink being developed by aerospace company Bureau 1440. Ukraine is believed to have unleashed the domestically manufactured FP-5 “Flamingo” cruise missile in the attack. Volodymyr Zelensky boasted about the “new significant results” from the deep strike, which reached almost 600 miles inside Russia, measured from the Ukrainian border. The Ukrainian President said: “In Samara region, one of the key enterprises within Roscosmos – the Progress Centre, which was involved, among other things, in electronics production – was hit. “Flamingo missiles were used. A good achievement.” Mayor of Samara, Ivan Noskov, said there were casualties from the missile strike and damage to industrial infrastructure. He added that he was “working with the management of the enterprise and emergency services on the scene.” Separately, another Ukrainian strike damaged a military airfield in Savasleyka, Nizhny Novgorod region. Huge explosions were heard overnight art the airbase after the 500-mile attack. Comment now