9 October 2026
The Ukrainian Armed Forces struck the Barmin Research Institute of Launch Complexes and the Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Elimination Center in Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod region.
This was reported on October 9 by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on its Facebook page.
The facility near the village of Dalne Konstantinovo-5 belongs to the V. P. Barmin Research Institute of Launch Complexes—a subsidiary of JSC Ground-Based Space Infrastructure Operation Center Facilities (TsENKI).
The company is engaged in the development and production of launch and technical complexes, refueling equipment, as well as ground-, air-, and sea-based missile and space complexes. This is stated on their official website.
Another facility reported as having been destroyed by the General Staff was the Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Elimination Center near the village of Surovatikha in the same region.
Work on a missile container at the Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Elimination Center in Surovatikha, Russia. 2011. Archive photo: Wikimedia Commons.
The center is involved in the disposal of missile weapons, as well as the production, preparation, storage, and transportation of rocket fuel. In addition, the facility maintains and repairs missile delivery systems.
The General Staff noted that the strike on this facility was aimed at weakening the Russian military-industrial complex’s capabilities to produce explosives and rocket fuel.
Gleb Nikitin, governor of the Nizhny Novgorod region, confirmed the nighttime drone attack on the region. According to him, infrastructure facilities were damaged by falling debris, but he described the damage as minor.
The Russian official also reported the death of a serviceman from the Bars-NN unit, who had participated in repelling the attack alongside forces from the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation and the National Guard of Russia.
Illustration of the Barmin Research Institute’s activities—testing equipment for the Angara-A5 rocket at the Vostochny Cosmodrome, September 2025. Photo credits: TsENKI.
According to reports from the Russian monitoring resource UAV Russia, drones were detected in several districts of the Nizhny Novgorod region on the night of October 9, specifically in the Sosnovsky and Kulebatsky districts. The threat was declared neutralized at 06:39.
Earlier, Militarnyi reported that on October 9, Ukrainian drones attacked the Redkino Experimental Chemical Plant in Russia’s Tver region, which manufactures rocket fuel components.
Center for the operation of ground-based space infrastructure facilities
The TsENKI is a Russian organization responsible for operating the ground-based infrastructure of the rocket and space industry. Its structure includes enterprises that develop launch complexes, work with rocket fuel components, and maintain the relevant equipment.
The Barmin Research Institute of Launch Complexes was established in 2010 through the merger of two design bureaus. Its predecessors participated in the creation of launch infrastructure for the Soviet R-7 intercontinental ballistic missile and rocket and space complexes.
The Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Elimination Center in the village of Surovatikha was established in 1993 on the basis of a missile neutralization and dismantlement station. Initially, its activities were related to the implementation of agreements on the reduction of strategic offensive weapons between Russia and the United States.
In 2009, the center became part of the JSC Ground-Based Space Infrastructure Operation Center Facilities (TsENKI). The organization’s 2018 report noted that, during the facility’s operation, 448 intercontinental ballistic missiles had been dismantled, and its activities also included work to extend the service life of missile systems.