A RUSSIAN ROCKET-ENGINE PLANT BURNS 1,500 KILOMETERS FROM UKRAINE
A major fire has engulfed part of the Proton-PM rocket-engine plant in Perm, sending thick black smoke above one of Russia’s strategically important aerospace facilities.
ASTRA geolocated footage to the plant’s grounds. Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry reported that the fire spread across approximately 2,100 square meters inside an industrial workshop. Around 80 firefighters and 28 vehicles were deployed, and no casualties were reported.
Proton-PM belongs to Russia’s state-controlled Roscosmos and NPO Energomash industrial network. The plant historically manufactured RD-276 engines for Proton-M heavy launch vehicles and now produces and tests RD-191 engines used by Russia’s Angara rocket family.
Those launch vehicles are not merely civilian space projects. Russia uses its space-launch infrastructure to place military communications, reconnaissance and navigation satellites into orbit. The Angara program is also expected to support Moscow’s planned Rassvet satellite constellation.
The facility additionally manufactures aerospace components, turbine equipment and parts connected to Russia’s wider aviation and industrial base.
Perm lies more than 1,500 kilometers from Ukraine—roughly 1,550 kilometers from the present front line. Ukrainian long-range drones have already reached other industrial and energy facilities in the region, demonstrating that this distance no longer guarantees protection.
The cause of today’s fire has not been established, however, and neither Ukraine nor Russian authorities have confirmed a drone strike. What is confirmed is that a major workshop inside one of Russia’s most important rocket-engine facilities has burned.