MOSCOW, Aug. 28 -- The Russian defence ministry does not usually name the company.

Its statement on Friday said attack drones had struck an industrial site in the Kyiv region, and then it identified the target precisely. "Attack drones in the Kiev region struck an industrial enterprise (Fire Point LLC), which produced and stored chemicals needed to manufacture solid-fuel boosters and warheads for Flamingo long-range cruise missiles," the ministry said.

None of that has been confirmed by anyone else. Ukraine has not commented, no independent assessment of the damage exists, and the ministry's operational claims are not audited by anybody, a problem visible in its own drone-interception arithmetic, where figures from different series get ...