Ukraine Counteroffensive Update for Sept 26 (Europe Edition): ‘America Is Being Invaded’

Overview:

• Ukrainian drones land deadly blow on military airfield and FSB building in Russia
• See images of Odesa airstrike aftermath
• Death toll from air strikes in Kherson rises to six
• Russia claims to hit a Ukrainian MiG and intercept missile in Crimea
• AFU ramps up offensive in occupied Luhansk
• Many of Russia’s highest-ranking Navy officers have now been killed or wounded
• US right-wing fringe politician steps up anti-Ukrainian rhetoric

Drones hit military airfield, surveillance building, in Russia, killing airmen and officers

The Institute for the Study of War reported that Ukrainian drones attacked the Khalino airfield in Kursk, Russia, and a nearby Federal Security Service (FSB) building on Sunday, citing sources with connections to Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence (HUR).

The airfield is home to several Russian military units, including the 105th Guards Composite Aviation Division, part of the 14th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment, the 6th Air and Air Defense Forces Army, as well as Russia Aerospace Forces. Significantly, the 14th Guards operate several Sukhoi SU-30 fighter jets out of the airfield.

A source in Ukrainian military intelligence (HUR) told Kyiv Post the UAV was successfully intercepted by using radio-electronic warfare techniques and safely landed on the runway of the Halino airfield.

The leadership of the regiment based there as well as members of the FSB then decided to investigate their new “trophy,” the source said.

Their excitement was short-lived, with the drone blowing up as they were photographing and inspecting it.

No details have been confirmed about damages at the building housing agents of the FSB (the successor to the Soviet KGB) but Ukrainian sources said the aviation regiment’s commander and an FSB counterintelligence agent were among the dead, as well as several other officers.

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See aerial footage of the airfield compound here:

Odesa airstrike damage

After Russian forces launched 12 sea-to-land Kalibr missiles from occupied Crimea, as well as 19 Shahed attack drones, towards grain facilities near the port of Odesa (resulting in a blast at the abandoned Hotel Odessa) images and videos of the damage have surfaced online:

Operations: Luhansk; Ukrainian missiles reportedly target industrial facility

The ISW cited reports that Ukrainian forces launched an attack on Monday well behind Russian defenses in the Luhansk region, targeting Russian-controlled infrastructure. Both Russian and Ukrainian sources reported that Ukrainian forces struck an unspecified industrial facility in Sorokyne (13 km from the Ukrainian-Russian border). The think tank cited a “prominent” Russian military blogger who said that Ukrainian forces launched three Storm Shadow cruise missiles at Sorokyne.

Death toll rises to six in the Kherson region after continued shelling, evacuations continue

The chief of the Kherson region’s military administration, Oleksandr Prokudin, said that Russian artillery strikes in the region have resulted in three more deaths on Monday.

“The Russian army again attacked the Dniprovskyi district of the city of Kherson. According to preliminary information, two men and one woman died from their injuries,” Prokudin posted on social media.

Earlier that day, Prokudin revealed that three people in had died in the city of Beryslav from heavy Russian shelling. He added that, after civilian evacuations were conducted following the strikes, about 25 percent of Beryslav’s population remains there.

Russia claims to destroy Ukrainian MiG near Kryvyi Rih, shot down missile in Crimea

The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) posted on its Telegram account Sunday that it had destroyed a MiG-29 fighter jet of the Ukrainian Air Force at the Dolginstevo Air Base in the Dnipropetrovsk region. There have been no independent confirmation of the claim. The air base is near Kryvyi Rih, which has been the target of Russian missile strikes in the past few weeks.

Meanwhile, in occupied Crimea, the Russian-installed governor of Sevastopol posted on social media on Monday that Russian forces had intercepted a Ukrainian missile there, AFP reported.

“Our military is repelling a missile attack,” Mikhail Razvozhaev posted. “According to preliminary data, air defenses shot down one missile near the Belbek airfield.”

In its post, the MoD also claims to have downed 33 Ukrainian UAVs on Monday, specifically in the occupied regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, as well as in the Russian border region of Belgorod.

Casualties among the Russian Navy’s top brass are climbing sharply

After a precision Ukrainian air strike on the headquarters of the Black Sea Fleet in occupied Crimea killed 34 Russian officers, including the Black Sea Fleet Commander Admiral Viktor Sokolov, the ISW has reported that the attack also wounded 105 Russian personnel, including some very senior brass.

Lieutenant General Kyrylo Budanov of the HUR said over the weekend that the strike seriously wounded the commander of the Russian 200th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade (Northern Fleet), Lieutenant General Oleg Tsekov, and the commander of the Russian grouping of forces in the Zaporizhzhia Region, Colonel General Alexander Romanchuk.

Ukrainian Special Operations Forces also reported that the Ukrainian strike on the Minsk landing ship in Sevastopol on September 13 killed 62 personnel, noting that high-ranking personnel were present as the Minsk was scheduled to set sail on combat the following day.

The ISW stated that it has not independently verified that the strikes indeed killed Sokolov or any other high-ranking Russian commanders, “although the Russian command would be able to easily disprove Ukrainian reporting if these reports are false,” its analysts wrote.

US congresswoman and provocateuse posts more anti-Ukrainian rhetoric

US Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene – who has become the standard-bearer for the far right’s crusade against American funding for Ukraine’s counteroffensive – took to Twitter on Monday to compare the “invasion” of immigrants to the United States to the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, as Congress debates funding for military aid.

“America is being invaded,” she wrote. “We should be protecting our border, not the border of Ukraine. NO MORE MONEY TO UKRAINE!”

About an hour prior to that, she posted, “There are no limits to how many American tax dollars the Biden admin will be able to give away to Zelensky. How many Republicans will vote to give Biden a blank check to fund his proxy war with Russia in Ukraine?”

The Georgia Republican, not often cited for her foreign policy acumen, the day before had posted an image of a Chanukah menorah to wish Jews a good fast on the holiday of Yom Kippur.