On the night of April 29, 2025, several powerful explosions thundered over Dzerzhinsk in the Nizhny Novgorod region, caused by the operation of air defense systems that shot down unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Local residents reported loud bangs that began at about 2:45 a.m., after which car alarms went off in the area and the windows of some houses shook. There were no casualties or damage on the ground. Nizhny Novgorod Region Governor Gleb Nikitin confirmed that air defense and electronic warfare (EW) forces repelled an attack by Ukrainian UAVs over the territories of two districts of the region, including Dzerzhinsk.

There are no recorded consequences on the ground, emergency services continue to work at the sites of the debris fall. Residents of Dzerzhinsk actively discussed the incident on social networks, publishing videos with flashes in the sky and sounds of explosions. It has been suggested that the target of the attack could have been the FKP "Ya. M. Sverdlov Plant", which produces explosives, but there was no official confirmation of the attack's purpose at the time of publication.

Dzerzhinsk, known as the "city of chemists," has repeatedly been targeted by Ukrainian drones due to the strategic facilities located there.

The Nizhny Novgorod region is regularly subjected to UAV attacks. On January 29, 2025, drones attacked the Lukoil-Nizhegorodnefteorgsintez oil refinery in Kstovo, and on April 24, the FSB prevented a terrorist attack at a petrochemical plant, eliminating two Central Asians who were preparing an attack on orders from Ukrainian special services. These incidents highlight the strategic importance of the region, where military-industrial complex and oil refining enterprises are concentrated.