Ukraine’s drone attack on Russia might have hit NPO Bazalt — Defense Express

Valeriy Ryabykh, a military expert and development director at the media and consulting company Defense Express, shared his opinions during a live broadcast on Espreso TV.

"It’s impossible to protect everything, and the enemy has hundreds of sites that may still be poorly defended — Ukraine’s Defense Forces are taking advantage of that. You can see it in the panic spreading on Russian social media today, where they’re openly talking about a large-scale Ukrainian attack. The most telling are the explosions in the Moscow region, in Tula, and in Oryol. Based on eyewitness accounts on Russian platforms, we can talk about a probable strike on one of the units of NPO Bazalt. This shows that Ukraine’s Defense Forces, despite all the talk in the White House about halting fire, are pressing forward to weaken the enemy’s military potential — first and foremost by hitting defense industry targets," he said.

Valeriy Ryabykh also said that, according to reports on social media, Russia has activated the so-called Carpet (Kovyor) plan in several regions and airports.

“Bazalt is a major defense manufacturer, with several branches. They produce a wide range of munitions — from shells to aerial bombs. Russian social media claims that the Carpet plan was triggered across a wide area last night — in the Moscow, Bryansk, Oryol, and Kursk regions. The plan was also activated at airports in Yaroslavl and Kostraki. And several Moscow-region airfields reportedly operated under this emergency protocol as well,” the expert added.

• On the afternoon of May 21, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said four drones had been shot down en route to the Russian capital. On the night of May 22, he reported another 27 drones were intercepted.