FLEX STATEMENT: “On the morning of August 21, 2025, our facility in Mukachevo, Ukraine, was damaged during a missile strike. Our emergency protocols were executed to ensure the full evacuation of the site. A few employees and contractors were injured during the strike and remain in the hospital. Flex is providing full support to them and their families, and we are engaging with our relevant U.S. Government officials and agencies. We have activated our Business Continuity Plan to ensure ongoing operations and are currently assessing the extent of damage to our facility. Our Mukachevo facility is dedicated to consumer and lifestyle products and has no role, past, or present in military or defense production. While the incident is of extreme significance to our Flex teammates, the facility represents approximately 1% of Flex’s revenue.”
The aerial assault on a part of Ukraine that has largely avoided such focused attacks was one of Russia’s biggest this year and came amid Moscow’s objections to key aspects of proposals that could end the fighting following Russia’s February 2022 invasion of its neighbor.
A U.S. electronics plant near the Hungarian border was struck, according to Andy Hunder, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine. The Flex factory is one of the biggest American investments in Ukraine, Hunder told The Associated Press.
At the moment of impact, 600 night shift workers were on the premises, and six were injured, Hunder said. Russian attacks on Ukraine since it launched its invasion have damaged property belonging to more than half of the chamber’s roughly 600 members, he added
“The message is clear: Russia is not looking for peace. Russia is attacking American business in Ukraine, humiliating American business,” Hunder said.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said the strikes targeted “enterprises of the Ukrainian military-industrial complex.” It claimed the attack hit drone factories, storage depots and missile launch sites, as well as areas where Ukrainian troops were gathered. Russia has repeatedly denied targeting civilian areas of Ukraine.
In the western city of Lviv, one person was killed and three were injured as the attack damaged 26 residential buildings, a kindergarten and administrative buildings, regional head Maksym Kozytskyi wrote on Telegram. The regional prosecutor’s office said three Russian cruise missiles with cluster munitions struck the city.
Moscow has shown no signs of pursuing meaningful negotiations to end the war, Zelenskyy said. He urged the international community to respond with stronger pressure on Moscow, including tougher sanctions and tariffs.
In comments Wednesday that were embargoed until Thursday, Zelenskyy said plans for security guarantees will become clearer by the end of next week. He said he then expects to be ready to hold direct talks with Putin for the first time since the full-scale invasion.
The talks could also be conducted in a trilateral format alongside Trump, Zelenskyy said.
A venue for the meeting is being discussed, and Switzerland, Austria and Turkey are possibilities, Zelenskyy added.
Ukraine, meanwhile, has kept up its attacks with domestically produced long-range drones on infrastructure inside Russia that supports Moscow’s war effort. Among other targets, it has hit oil refineries, and Russian wholesale gasoline prices have reached record highs in recent days.
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Associated Press reporters Matthew Lee and Aamer Madhani in Washington, and Emma Burrows in London contributed.
