Tobacco factory in Kremenchuk shut down after two attacks in September

The tobacco factory of the international company JTI in Kremenchuk, Poltava region, came under Russian strikes twice during September and is currently closed. This was reported by JTI Ukraine in response to a request from RBC-Ukraine.

The company emphasized that no employees were injured as a result of the attacks. The plant's operations were suspended before the strikes, so no personnel were at the production site. The factory is currently not operating.

At the same time, for security reasons, JTI did not specify whether there was a direct hit on the factory during the massive attack on the night of September 22.

That night, Russian troops attacked Kremenchuk district with missiles and drones. Poltava Regional State Administration reported hits on industrial facilities. According to regional authorities, no one was injured, and after the attack there were also problems with power supply.

After the strike, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed that one of the attacked targets was allegedly the "JTI Ukraine" factory in Kremenchuk. The Russian agency asserted that its production facilities were supposedly producing ammunition for small arms.

JTI categorically denied these claims. The company stated that the Kremenchuk plant exclusively manufactures tobacco products, and JTI itself has never been involved in military production.

There are no public independent confirmations of the Russian Defense Ministry's statement about ammunition production at the factory. Earlier, it was reported that the Russian agency, after the September 22 attack, named among the targets in Poltava region the Kremenchuk oil refinery and the JTI factory.

JTI Ukraine has been operating in the Ukrainian market since 1999 and is part of the international group Japan Tobacco International. According to the company, it has over 800 employees in Ukraine, and total investments in the country amount to about $440 million. The factory in Kremenchuk produces tobacco products of brands such as Winston, Camel, Sobranie, LD and others.

This is not the first attack on assets of major tobacco companies in Ukraine in recent months. In August, a Russian strike destroyed a warehouse storing JTI products, and on September 7, after an attack on the British American Tobacco factory in Pryluky, that plant also suspended operations.

According to materials from: RBC-Ukraine (Mariya Kucheryavets), JTI, Poltava region state administration