Drone strikes hit Russian nitrogen plants

Ukrainian drones struck a chemical plant at Cherepovets, Vologda Oblast, on 13 April, with videos circulating on social media platform Telegram appearing to show columns of smoke rising from the Cherepovets-Azot facility, part of Russia’s PhosAgro holding. According to the Russian Ministry of Defence, 13 drones were shot down on approach to the industrial site, with emergency services deployed to locations where debris fell, governor Georgy Filimonov said in a Telegram post.

OSINT group CyberBoroshno reported a strike on two of the plant’s three ammonia plants, which have a combined capacity of 900,000 t/a, with a possible hit on an ammonia storage facility also reported. The affected plants account for around 6% of Russia’s ammonia production, while the facility as a whole represents approximately 10% of national output, according to CyberBoroshno. The operational status of the facility could not be confirmed at the time of writing. The Cherepovets site was also struck in a drone attack on 27 March 2026. The attack follows a pattern of drone strikes on Russian chemical infrastructure.