Russia says it struck Ukrainian missile plants

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia's defence ministry said on Thursday that its forces had struck a number of Ukrainian missile plants, weapons design bureaus and rocket fuel productions enterprises with missiles and drones in July.

Russian forces destroyed a number of Western missile defence systems - including Patriot launchers and fire control radar in the Dnipropetrovsk and Sumy regions - that had been deployed to defend the plants, the ministry said.

"An attempt by the Kyiv regime, together with its Western partners, to organise the production of missiles to carry out attacks deep into the territory of the Russian Federation was thwarted," the ministry said.

(Reporting by Reuters; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)