Vladimir Putin embarrassed by major blow after key chemical plant hit in audacious strike

Crucial Russian defence-linked chemical plants and oil refineries were hit in a Ukrainian strike causing a massive blow to Vladimir Putin's war machine.

The huge attack was launched on the Metafrax Chemicals in Gubakha, Perm region, and Novo-Ufimsky oil refinery in Ufa, about 870 miles from the frontline of the horror war. One of Putin's biggest refineries, Kirishi, in Leningrad region, burst into a huge blaze after the audacious strikes by Kyiv - which keeps the pressure on Moscow and the sites it uses to fuel the illegal invasion of Ukraine. The huge Kirishi plant has the capacity to produce 21 million tonnes of explosives per year.

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Ukraine's Armed Forces confirmed it was behind the attack on Telegram, and said it was working to assess the impact of the crucial hit.

The Metafrax Chemicals plant was also hit in a separate drone strike, but local governor Dmitry Makhonin said there were no casualties and claimed the site would continue normal operations. Despite this, a Ukrainian lawmaker, on Telegram, wrote the drones damaged the facility, which was just opened in 2023.

The plant, in the Gubakha region, is in the Russian Ural mountains and about 1,200 miles from Kyiv. These new strikes have shown the Ukrainian army's ability to go further into Russian space to target energy and chemical assets and sites.

These Kyiv successes have come as Russia continues it's illegal invasion and ups deadly strikes on Ukraine. More than 20 Ukrainians were killed in a "brutal" Russian airstrike while they were collecting pensions in a rural village, this week.

President Zelensky confirmed the strike on Telegram alongside a harrowing video showing a destroyed plot of land with multiple casualties on the ground. He said the bomb struck the village of Yarova in eastern Ukraine, killing at least 20 'ordinary civilians'.

Zelensky wrote: "A frankly brutal Russian air bomb strike on the village of Yarova in the Donetsk region. Directly at people. Ordinary civilians. At the moment when pensions were being issued.

"According to preliminary information, the number of dead is more than 20 people. There are no words... Condolences to all the relatives and friends of the deceased."

Ukraine's leader called on the rest of Europe, the US and the G20 to take more action to try and stop the horror war. He added: "Such strikes by Russia should definitely not remain without an appropriate reaction from the world.

"The Russians continue to destroy life, but they avoid new strong sanctions, new strong strikes. The world should not remain silent. The world should not remain inactive."