It was an attack that came three days after an unprecedented Ukrainian strike against the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol, in annexed Crimea. Two people were found dead on Monday September 25 in a grain warehouse in Odessa, according to a new report announced on Telegram by regional governor Oleg Kiper, who initially reported one injured person.
According to the Ukrainians, who claim to have shot down most of them, drones and missiles were used in this “massive” Russian attack against Odessa, a major Black Sea port. The Russian Defense Ministry, for its part, said it had carried out a strike against centers hosting “foreign mercenaries” and “sabotage groups”.
A Russian commander, given for dead by kyiv, present on a video
The Russian Defense Ministry published an image on Tuesday showing Viktor Sokolov, commander of the Black Sea fleet, participating in a video conference, after Ukraine claimed to have killed him. In a video released later, the commander appears in the image several times, without speaking. Ukraine on Friday struck with missiles the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol, a city in Crimea annexed by Russia. On Monday, the Ukrainian army said that among the thirty officers killed in the strike was Commander Sokolov.
American Abrams tanks delivered to Ukraine will “burn”, Kremlin promises
The American Abrams tanks delivered to Kiev “will burn”, the Kremlin promised on Tuesday, ensuring that their arrival on the battlefield “would not change the balance of power” between the Russian and Ukrainian armies. The first American Abrams tanks have arrived in Ukraine, months in advance, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Monday, welcoming this “good news”. The United States had promised a total of 31 Abrams tanks, equipped with 120 mm depleted uranium munitions capable of piercing armor. “There’s no […] a type of weapon that can change the balance of power on the battlefield,” assured the spokesperson for the Russian presidency, Dmitri Peskov.
An attack by 38 Russian drones
Russia attacked Ukraine with 38 Shahed drones overnight, the Ukrainian Air Force said on Tuesday, September 26, claiming that 26 of these aircraft had been shot down. “The launches of 38 Shahed […] were recorded,” the Air Force wrote on Telegram in its daily report, specifying that Ukrainian defenses had destroyed 26 of these Iranian-made devices.
The Odessa region was one of the positions struck during the night by Russian forces, who notably targeted the port of Izmail. The assault lasted two hours, regional governor Oleg Kiper wrote on Telegram, saying that “most of the drones” had been shot down. “Unfortunately, the port infrastructure was affected in the Izmail district,” he explained, also deploring two injured truck drivers, one of whom was hospitalized. A checkpoint and warehouses, as well as around thirty trucks, were damaged, he said.
Ukraine: Russian anti-aircraft defense shoots down missile over Crimea
A missile attack targeted Crimea and Russian air defense shot down a missile, the authorities installed by Moscow at the head of this Ukrainian peninsula annexed in 2014 said Monday evening. “Our military repels an attack on Crimea. According to officials preliminary information, anti-aircraft defense shot down a missile near the Belbek airfield. Efforts are still ongoing,” Sevastopol Governor Mikhail Razvozhayev said on Telegram. Authorities had issued an air attack alert at 8:57 p.m. local time across the entire peninsula. The governor announced an hour later that the alert was lifted.
Ukrainian forces have carried out a number of attacks on Russian positions on the Crimean peninsula since the Russian invasion began in February 2022, but these attacks have intensified in recent months as Kiev has obtained Western weapons and ambitions to recover its entire territory.
Furthermore, the Russian Defense Ministry said Monday that its anti-aircraft defense had neutralized seven Ukrainian drones over the Russian region of Belgorod, bordering Ukrainian territory. The local governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said there were no casualties in the attack. The Russian ministry also said that four Ukrainian drones had been destroyed in the Kursk region, which also borders Ukraine.
Moldova: Missile fragments found in separatist region of Transnistria
Parts of a missile were found in the Moldovan separatist region of Transnistria, authorities announced on Monday, without making a link at this stage with a new Russian attack in neighboring southern Ukraine.
“Military observers were deployed to the scene” to examine “the suspected missile identified in the Transnistria region,” Moldova’s Defense Ministry said in a statement. “At this stage, the origin of the identified object is unclear and its trajectory is not confirmed by independent sources,” he added.
It is “a model of an S-300 missile warhead” dating from 1968, which was found “planted in the ground near a house in Kitskany”, specified for his part the President of the Commission unified control Oleg Beliakov, according to comments to the Russian agency Tass. This tripartite body directs the peacekeeping operation in this separatist region. Moldova, Russia and Transnistria are represented there.
According to local media, the missile fell in the garden of a villager who said he heard a loud explosion around 1 a.m. and found the missile early in the morning. Both the Ukrainian and Russian militaries use Soviet-designed S-300 surface-to-air missiles.
Since the start of the Russian offensive in Ukraine in 2022, tensions have been high in Transnistria, where Russian soldiers are deployed. This Russian-speaking region proclaimed its independence after a short war following the fall of the USSR. Never recognized by the international community, it is supported by Moscow. The pro-European Moldovan government, which accuses Russia of attempts at destabilization, regularly calls for demilitarization of the zone.