On the night of September 19, the Ukrainian Defense Forces carried out a series of strikes on key military facilities of Russian troops along several directions. According to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as reported to RBC-Ukraine, the targets included unmanned system command posts, a training ground, and enemy materiel supply facilities in the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions, as well as in the temporarily occupied territories. The strikes hit areas where Russian forces are actively deploying drones and training personnel.
UAV command posts: double hit in the Zaporizhzhia region
Among the priority targets of the night operation were unmanned aerial vehicle command posts. The General Staff reported hitting such facilities in the areas of the Luhansk and Pokrovsk groupings in the Donetsk region. Particular attention is warranted by the result in the area of Novoprokopivka in the Zaporizhzhia region, where, according to the Ukrainian command, two UAV command posts were hit at once. In addition, enemy positions near Vladymirivka, Verbove, Dobropillia, and Rovenne — settlements located in the zone of active combat on the southern front — came under fire.
The 'Eastern' training ground and supply facilities
A separate target of the operation was the 'Eastern' training ground in the area of the temporarily occupied Nove Petrivka in the Zaporizhzhia region. According to the General Staff, hitting this facility is aimed at limiting the Russian troops' ability to train and redeploy reserves. In the Donetsk region, Ukrainian military hit a materiel and technical supplies warehouse in Rybne, and near Amvrosiivka — an ammunition depot. The destruction of logistics hubs, by the logic of the Ukrainian command, should make it harder to supply the enemy's frontline units.
Confirmed strike on a radar station in the Smolensk region
The General Staff also reported a confirmed outcome of a preliminary strike delivered on September 17. As a result of the attack, a Russian 80P6 radar station was damaged in the area of the settlement of Mityuli in the Smolensk region. This type of station is part of air defense missile systems and provides detection of aerial targets at long ranges. Its damage, according to the Ukrainian side's assessment, reduces the effectiveness of air defense in the corresponding direction.
Context: a week-long series of strikes on critical infrastructure
The night strikes on September 18–19 were a continuation of an intense series of attacks on Russian military infrastructure. On the night of September 18, the Defense Forces hit the ground-based 'Orion' reconnaissance-strike UAV command station at the Saki airfield in the temporarily occupied Crimea. The General Staff stated that this significantly limited the Russian troops' ability to use these drones in the corresponding direction. Even earlier, on September 16 and 17, two launchers of the S-400 air defense missile system in the Bryansk region, a strike UAV launch facility near Donetsk, and several warehouses were hit. Thus, over the course of a week, Ukrainian military focused their efforts on destroying the components that support the enemy's use of unmanned systems and air defense.
