Kyiv: Russian strikes pounded a military factory near Kyiv that makes the missiles Ukraine claims it used to sink the Moskva naval flagship, with Moscow vowing further such attacks.

       A workshop and an administrative building at the Vizar plant, which lies near Kyiv’s international Zhuliany airport, were seriously damaged in the overnight strikes yesterday, an AFP journalist at the scene saw.

       Russia had earlier announced that it had used Kalibr sea-based long-range missiles to hit the factory, which Ukraine’s state weapons manufacturer Ukroboronprom says produced Neptune missiles.

       “There were five hits. My employee was in the office and got thrown off his feet by the blast,” Andrei Sizov, a 47-year-old owner of a nearby wood workshop, said.

       He believed Russia was taking revenge for the Moskva warship, which the governor of Ukraine’s southern Odessa region, Maxim Marchenko, said was hit by Ukrainian Neptune missiles on Wednesday.The Moskva missile cruiser had been leading Russia’s naval effort in the seven-week conflict, and the circumstances around its sinking and the fate of its crew remain murky.Russia’s defence ministry said a blast on the vessel was the result of exploding ammunition and that the resulting damage had caused it to “lose its balance” as it was being towed to port.

       The fleet has been blockading the besieged southern port city of Mariupol, where Russian officials say they are in full control.

       Moscow, which invaded Ukraine partly because of deepening ties between Kyiv and Nato, yesterday warned of unspecified “consequences” if Finland and Sweden join the US-led defence alliance.

       The two countries are considering joining Nato after Russia’s devastating invasion of neighbouring Ukraine.

       “The choice is up to the authorities of Sweden and Finland,” Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova declared in a statement.

       “But they should understand the consequences of such a step for our bilateral relations and for the architecture of European security as a whole.

       “They will automatically find themselves on the Nato frontline.”

       Russian forces last month started withdrawing from around the Ukrainian capital as they are redeployed to focus on territory in the east of the country, but the city remains vulnerable to missile strikes.

       Meanwhile, a large explosion reportedly struck the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, the site of a missile strike on a train station a week earlier that left more than 50 dead and dozens wounded.

       Associated Press journalists in the city heard the sound of a rocket or missile and then the blast, followed by sirens wailing early yesterday afternoon. — Agencies