Attack on AVISMA in Berezniki: Strike on Russia's largest titanium sponge producer

Strike on a key titanium producer

Ukrainian defence forces carried out an attack on the "AVISMA" chemical and metallurgical plant, located in the city of Berezniki in Russia's Perm Krai. This enterprise is the largest producer of titanium sponge in the Russian Federation, and its raw material is essential for creating titanium alloys used in the aviation and rocket industries.

Video footage of the incident appeared online. Local officials confirmed the fact of the strike on the industrial facility.

Official version from Russian authorities

Dmitry Mahonin, the Governor of Perm Krai, reported that Russian air defence systems destroyed 11 drones. According to him, the industrial facility in the north of the region sustained "minor damage". Preliminary data suggests that five plant employees may have been injured.

Scale of production and exports

The "AVISMA" plant is part of the "VSMPO-AVISMA" corporation, which is among the world's largest titanium producers with a full production cycle. According to data from the US Geological Survey (USGS), the corporation produced approximately 33,500 tonnes of titanium sponge in 2024. This figure accounted for approximately 96% of the corporation's production in Russia.

Until 2021, the company exported about 70% of its output. Among the foreign customers were well-known brands such as Boeing, Airbus, Embraer, Rolls-Royce, and Safran.

Use in the Russian military-industrial complex

Titanium and its alloys are used in the manufacture of aircraft structures and engines due to their high strength and resistance to extreme temperatures.

In the rocket industry, one of the corporation's major customers is the Votkinsk Plant. There, ballistic missiles for the "Iskander" systems, as well as the "Yars" and "Topol-M" intercontinental ballistic missiles, are produced. It is also known that titanium raw materials linked to the corporation are used in the production of "Kalibr" cruise missiles.

In the aviation sector, the corporation's materials are supplied to "Sukhoi" and "Irkut" companies, which produce the Su-30, Su-34, and Su-35S fighter aircraft. In addition, plants that manufacture and modernise the Tu-95MS and Tu-160 strategic bombers, as well as the Tu-22M3 long-range bombers, also receive titanium alloys from this supplier.

The Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine previously recorded the use of titanium products from the "VSMPO-AVISMA" corporation in the production of Su-34 bombers and Su-35S fighters.