A Factory Belonging To One Of Russia's Largest Explosives Manufacturers Is On Fire

• 19.08.2026, 8:10

The company has a history dating back more than a century and is subject to sanctions imposed by several countries.

On the night of August 19, drones launched a massive attack on Dzerzhinsk in the Nizhny Novgorod Region. According to preliminary OSINT analysis, the source of the extensive smoke over the city is the territory of the Sverdlov Defense Chemical Plant.

This was reported by the Telegram channel ASTRA.

Eyewitnesses in Dzerzhinsk posted footage overnight showing a massive drone attack and thick smoke over the city.

According to an analysis of the photos conducted by ASTRA, the source of the smoke is highly likely to be located on the grounds of the Sverdlov Explosives Plant—approximately five kilometers from the apartment building that had previously been damaged by a drone.

The Sverdlov Plant is a key industrial enterprise in Dzerzhinsk and part of Russia’s military-industrial complex. It is one of the country’s largest manufacturers of explosives, with a history spanning more than a century.

The plant is subject to sanctions imposed by Ukraine, the European Union, the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, and Switzerland—specifically for supporting actions that threaten Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.

This is not the first time the plant has come under attack by Ukrainian drones—in particular, a similar attack already took place on April 30.

On August 15, the Ukrainian Armed Forces struck one of Roscosmos’s key facilities — the “Progress” Rocket and Space Center in Samara, as well as the “Savasleyka” airfield in the Nizhny Novgorod region, which the missiles traveled about 900 kilometers to reach. On the same day, powerful explosions were heard in the region, and “Savasleyka” was one of the targets.