Ukraine says it hit a Russian battery plant in Yelets; Voronezh governor reports two dead; Zelensky says US approval of air-defence missiles delayed for nearly a month

Neither side’s battlefield claims can be independently confirmed.

Ukraine’s General Staff said on Monday 26 October that a fire broke out at the Energia plant in the western Russian city of Yelets after an overnight strike, The Kyiv Independent reported. The General Staff said the plant is Russia’s only maker of batteries for glide-bomb guidance modules and also produces batteries for Iskander-M missiles and sea-based cruise missiles. It did not give the extent of the damage. Russia’s Defence Ministry had not commented on the claim.

In Russia’s Voronezh region, Governor Alexander Gusev said a drone attack killed two men and injured 17 people, including a child, and caused fires at several industrial sites. He said air defences destroyed 113 drones over the region, RTÉ reported, citing Reuters.

Russia’s Defence Ministry said its forces hit a power station in Kharkiv, another in Khmelnytskyi region, port infrastructure in Chornomorsk and a cargo vessel heading to Odesa that it said was used for military purposes.

Ukrainian regional officials said Russian attacks killed at least two people and injured 35 over the previous day. Ukraine’s Air Force said Russia launched four missiles and 140 drones overnight and that it shot down three missiles and 112 drones. In Zaporizhzhia, regional official Ivan Fedorov said eight people were injured in the city.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine had been waiting nearly a month for US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to approve missiles for its Patriot and NASAMS air-defence systems, which allies had already paid for. “I instructed our team to raise this with the American side once again,” he said.

Background: Ukraine and Russia are due to hold US-mediated trilateral talks in November, Zelensky has said. The US has urged Kyiv to suspend strikes on Russian oil refineries; Zelensky has said Ukraine would stop if Russia stopped hitting its power grid. See also: Russian strikes kill four in Dnipropetrovsk region, Zelensky says and UN inquiry on Russia’s energy attacks.