The NY Times had called it a warning delivered to Europe at Mach 10: "The message came screaming through the skies at 8,000 miles per hour. Early Friday morning, for just the second time since its all-out invasion of Ukraine, Russia fired a nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile — a hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic weapon that until recently was banned under international treaty," the publication wrote.

The Ukrainian side, along with some evidence available from circulating videos, pointed to a hypersonic projectile having been used against the far western Ukrainian city of Lviv, but the question of just what the Russians were targeting with such an advanced and devastating weapon remained an open one.

Russian state media and the military have officially disclosed the apparent target, however, and it reveals something about what type of targets Moscow is prioritizing, now nearly four years into the grinding 'special military operation' which it should be noted President Putin has still refrained from calling a full state of war.

RT has featured a fresh Monday defense ministry statement indicting Oreshnik hypersonic ballistic missile system destroyed a Ukrainian aviation plant in Lviv. The military-purposed plant was repairing and servicing warplanes, as well as producing long-range drones, but has been effectively disabled.

"In a statement on Monday, the ministry said, citing several independent sources, that the attack successfully hit a facility which supported the operations of Ukrainian Soviet-era warplanes, including MiG-29 jets, as well as Western-supplied F-16s," RT writes.

These long- and medium-range drones have wreaked havoc on Russian oil and energy production, and the last many months have seen them strike targets deep inside Russia with great effectiveness.

Russia's military is now going after production centers, and especially ones that might be tied to Western and NATO supporters of the Zelensky government.

The plant made drones "used for strikes against Russian civilian targets deep inside the territory of the Russian Federation."

"The ministry added that the strike hit production workshops, storage facilities holding finished drones, and infrastructure at the plant’s airfield," the RT report adds.

"Officials also noted that the same attack involving Iskander and Kalibr missiles struck drone production facilities in Kiev," it continues.

Last year a huge drone production facility supported by the Turks was reportedly hit by a large Russian aerial attack and was severely damaged by the resulting fire. Russia appears to be taking its time, slowly and systematically obliterating Ukraine's infrastructure.