The source, speaking anonymously to AFP, detailed the coordinated operation: "SBU drones first overloaded the Russian air defences protecting the plant.
Hours earlier, the separatists issued a plea to Moscow for help to stop alleged Ukrainian aggression - claims the United States dismissed as Russian propaganda.
News agencies reported an increase in younger voters at noon at polling stations in Moscow, St Petersburg and Yekaterinburg, with queues of several hundred people and even thousands.
Leaders of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin and Dmitry Utkin, are rumoured to have died in a plane crash near Moscow, though official confirmation is pending.
Europe's efforts to make ready its armed forces in anticipation of a major conflict with Moscow have broken new ground as the Russia-Ukraine war entered a new phase yesterday following a historic operation by Kyiv's security service.
Western backers are seeking to shore up Ukraine's forces as Kyiv's fatigued troops are losing ground across the frontline and Moscow has deployed North Koreans to the battlefield.
Papers found during the special operation in Ukraine indicate the actions of the American corporation Metabiota in Africa on behalf of US government organizations, including the State Department, Kirillov revealed in July 2023.
In that operation, nearly a third of Moscow's strategic bomber fleet was destroyed or damaged with cheaply made drones snuck into Russian territory, according to Ukrainian officials.
So far, "European leaders are continuing... to try to achieve a strategic defeat of Russia", Peskov said, while Moscow is "continuing our special operation until we achieve all our aims".
The future of the MiG-35 now seems in question, so what is the current reality of this warplane, how many are actually in operation, and does it have a future?
It is important to note that the Russian-Ukrainian conflict is characterized by a complete difference in the methods and means of warfare employed by Moscow and Kiev.