Frontline report: Russia’s Belgorod, Kursk, Bryansk oblasts reel from Ukrainian strikes

Day 580. 26 September There is a lot of news from the northeast. Ukrainians have conducted many successful strikes over the last several days, and the mayor of Kursk decided to cancel the celebration of the city's birthday. Ukrainian special forces conducted a successful drone strike in this region on 26 September.

The target of the drone strike became a substation near Snagost that powered at least seven settlements, and as a result, all nearby settlements experienced a blackout. The strike aimed to cut off power from the Russian military near the border. Simultaneously, the Head of Ukrainian Intelligence reported that the Russian Volunteer Corps, a detachment of Russian citizens fighting on the Ukrainian side, conducted another raid in the Kursk region. The insurgents crossed the border, assaulted Russian border guards and soldiers, inflicted losses, and returned. Before that, Ukrainians also attacked the regional center.

Local residents reported hearing multiple explosions, and as revealed, at least one drone managed to hit its target. As it turned out, the drone hit the Russian Federal Security Services headquarters. Later, Russian sources confirmed that some drones managed to pass through the air defense. However, noted without specifications that an administrative building was damaged. Another explosion was recorded on the city's outskirts, near the Khalino airfield. Local residents reported that something hit an oil depot near the airfield. Interestingly, the drones were not spotted in that region, which is why some sources speculate that the explosion happened in the aftermath of the malfunction of the Russian air defense that tried to protect the airfield.

On 25 September, Ukrainians also successfully hit precisely this airfield. However, this time, Ukrainians targeted the pilots and their commanders at the headquarters in the nearby settlement instead of targeting aviation. Immediately after the strike, some Russian military bloggers started expressing condolences, which means the strike was likely successful. Later, Ukrainian Intelligence reported that according to the obtained information from the site, the commander of the 14th aviation regiment, at least one of his deputies, a group of pilots, and a security services representative were either injured or killed. Due to the very saturated week, the mayor of Kursk decided to cancel the celebration with fireworks for the city's birthday. The Ukrainian drones were also spotted today in the Bryansk region. Some analysts claimed the drone was used for reconnaissance because it was not the usual attack model. Thus, the drone was likely testing the Russian air defense in the region before a bigger strike. In the Belgorod region, however, the drones were of regular type. This was the same drone that Ukrainians used for many strikes, including the ones in Moscow.

Local residents reported an explosion somewhere near Dmyrivka. However, due to the sparseness of the region, no explosions were captured on video, which is why the Russian sources ignored the strike. But the biggest strike happened in the Luhansk Oblast. Here, Ukrainian forces targeted a huge ammunition depot that Russian forces created on the former factory territory. The factory is located in the deep rear, where there has been no fighting since 2014, so the Russians have accumulated a lot of ammunition inside the unharmed by the war facilities. Russian sources reported that the strike was conducted with Strom Shadow missiles launched from the Kramatorsk area, 150 km from the target. Russian analysts pointed out that there were no strikes in the deep rear of the Luhansk Oblast for quite a while, and a rapid shift of focus may indicate that Ukrainians may have some serious plans regarding the encirclement of the Soledar and Bakhmut group. In our daily frontline report, we pair up with the military blogger Reporting from Ukraine to keep you informed about what is happening on the battlefield in the Russo-Ukrainian war. Read also:

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