Ukrainian military intelligence carried out a sabotage operation against Russia's 90th anti-aircraft missile brigade in Afipsky settlement, Krasnodar Krai, on the morning of 8 August, resulting in the deaths of at least 12 Russian servicemen and dozens of injured, according to sources in Ukraine's Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR).
"Two explosions occurred near the checkpoint of the military unit," sources told Hromadske. The attack destroyed equipment and prompted a massive emergency response, with ambulances and special service vehicles converging on the scene.
Local Russian media and social media channels confirmed the explosions in Afipsky, while local security services cordoned off the area and declared an "anti-terrorist operation" regime. Russian authorities attempted to cover up the incident by attributing the explosions to malfunctioning gas cylinder equipment in a vehicle, according to intelligence sources.
"Russian authorities are trying to conceal the fact of sabotage on the territory of the military unit," a HUR source said. The Federal Security Service has been working to remove mentions of the incident from Russian media.
The 90th anti-aircraft missile brigade targeted in the operation has been participating in Russia's war against Ukraine on the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia fronts, the intelligence directorate added.
The attack came amid broader Ukrainian operations against Russian infrastructure, with drone strikes also hitting the Afipsky oil refinery in the same oblast, causing significant fires at gas condensate processing facilities.
A previous version of this article mistakenly said GRU (the Russian military intelligence) instead of HUR.
