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On the night of January 18th, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation launched massive retaliation strikes on the territory of Ukraine. In their turn, Ukrainian forces attacked Russian rear infrastructure with drones. The both warring sides suffered damage.
The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported that 46 Ukrainian UAVs were destroyed by Russian air defense forces last night. In particular:
- 18 Ukrainian UAVs were destroyed in the Bryansk region;
- 11 in the border Kursk region;
- 7 in the Kaluga region;
- 5 in the Tula region;
- 3 in the border Belgorod region;
- 2 in the Voronezh region.
Most of Ukrainian UAVs were destroyed but some of them reached their targets. Ukrainian attack again targeted Russian rear fuel depots. As a result of the strikes, a fire broke out at an oil depot in Uzlovskoy district in the Tula region.
According to local reports, at least one Ukrainian drone struck an industrial facility in the town of Lyudinovo in the Kaluga region. A local oil depot reportedly caught fire. No victims were reported as a result of the attack.
Russian oil depots, gas storage facilities and energy infrastructure facilities became the priority targets of Ukrainian attacks in recent months. Their strikes and wreckage of intercepted UAVs, as well as NATO missiles, have damaged a significant number of depots in the Russian rear regions. After recent Russian retaliation strikes on Ukrainian thermal power plants, energy substations, airfields, military facilities, and the largest gas storage facility in Europe in the Lviv region, Ukrainian strikes intensified. However, their results are yet to bring any critical damage to the Russian energy system or economy. Price on the Russian domestic market and price of fuels and lubricants, as well as their export supplies are not affected. The highest price for Kyiv’s strikes with NATO missiles is payed by Ukrainians.
On the night of January 18th, Ukraine came under another Russian retaliation attack. The Russian military confirmed another wave of combined strikes on facilities of the military and industrial complex of Ukraine that was launched in response to Kyiv’s attacks on civilian infrastructure in the Belgorod region with the US-made ATACMS missiles on January 16th.
The Russian military officially confirmed that one of the targets was Ukrainian Luch Design Bureau in Kyiv. This entreprise designed and manufactured long-range guided Neptune missiles and ammunition for Olkha multiple rocket launchers.
‘The goal of the strike has been achieved, all targets have been hit,’ the Defense Ministry summed up.
The Ukrainian media confirmed Russian strikes in the area of the targeted design bureau. The streets were flooded with sewage water. The local mayor confirmed damage and victims.
According to local reports, there were more Russian strikes in the capital and on its outskirts. Fires broke out at different sites in Desnyansky and Shevchenko districts. Explosions also thundered in Brovary.
The Ukrainian military claimed that in total, Russian forces launched four Iskander missiles, two of which were allegedly shot down by Ukrainian air defense. 24 Russian drones out of about 40 UAVs launched during the attack were allegedly destroyed. Moreover, 14 Russian drones were “locally lost”, according to the Ukrainian Air Force. No efforts of Ukrainian air defense allowed to avoid heavy damage across the country.
Russian drones and missiles were spotted in the Kyiv, Cherkassy, Poltava, Chernihiv, Zhitomir, Sumy, Kharkiv, Khmelnitsk, Kirovograd, Dnepropetrovsk and other regions.
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Another industrial facility came under Russian attack in the city of Zaporozhie. According to local reports, at least two Iskander missiles targeted the local Iskra plant, where the Ukrainian military repairs HIMARS MLRS from the US. A large fire heavily damaged workshops of the plant and the administrative building was almost destroyed.
The local authorities also confirmed damage to an industrial facility in Pavlograd.
While Russian missiles and kamikaze UAVs are destroying Ukrainian military infrastructure in the strategic rear, Russian heavy bombs continue pounding the Ukrainian military in the war-torn regions, including in the Kharkiv, Zaporozhie and Dnepropetrovsk regions.
