A night-time Russian strike hit an industrial plant in Kryvyi Rih, killing one person and wounding three, including a 54-year-old man who was reported in serious condition. Across Ukraine, at least 11 people were killed and 96 injured in overnight Russian attacks between 11 and 12 September, while Ukraine said it was carrying out operations against Russia's so-called shadow fleet, the oil transport network Kyiv says helps finance the war.
Civilian districts take the hit
The Odesa region was hit hardest, and strikes also targeted the Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kyiv, Sumy, Kharkiv and Kherson regions. In Odesa, a multi-storey residential building was damaged. Odesa region governor Oleh Kiper said, "The enemy attacked the city. A multi-storey residential building has been damaged." At least 35 people were injured in the Odesa region, including a five-month-old baby and a 17-year-old, and some victims needed hospitalisation. The numbers keep climbing while the machinery of war keeps moving.
Ukraine's Air Force said Russia used 129 drones of various types, as well as Iskander-M/KN-23 ballistic missiles, eight Kalibr cruise missiles and six guided Kh-59/69 missiles. Around half of the drones were fitted with jet engines. Ukraine's air defences destroyed or disrupted 110 aerial targets, including six Kalibr missiles, two Kh-59/69 missiles, one S-8000 Banderol cruise missile launched from a drone and 101 unmanned aerial vehicles. The language is technical. The damage isn't.
In Dnipro, drones, artillery and air-dropped bombs damaged an industrial facility, residential buildings, garages and vehicles. One person was killed and 19 were injured. In the Dnipropetrovsk region, two people were killed and at least 22 wounded, including a child, governor Oleksandr Hanzha said. In the Zaporizhzhia region, Russian forces carried out strikes on 45 towns and villages over the past 24 hours, including five missile attacks on Zaporizhzhia city. Two people were killed and 11 injured. In the Donetsk region, four people were killed and five wounded, with two deaths in Sloviansk, one in Kramatorsk and another in Yasnohirka, governor Vadym Filashkin said.
The borderless logic of war
In the Kyiv region, one person was killed and three were injured, including a child. Russian attack drones struck five districts: Brovary, Obukhiv, Bucha, Boryspil and Vyshhorod. Fifteen facilities were damaged, including seven houses, vehicles, warehouses, hangars and a power line. In the Sumy region, a 68-year-old man was killed in a Russian drone strike on the Myropillia community, and a 64-year-old man was wounded in a separate attack on the Novoslobidske community. Over the course of the day, Russian forces carried out more than 50 attacks on 25 localities there, using artillery, mortars, FPV drones, other unmanned aerial vehicles and guided air-dropped bombs.
In the Kharkiv region, a 32-year-old man was killed in an attack on Kharkiv and a 19-year-old man was wounded elsewhere in the region. In the Kherson region, 18 people were wounded, and attacks damaged residential areas as well as critical and social infrastructure. Fifteen residential buildings were damaged, along with shops, a petrol station, a service station, an ambulance and vehicles. The state counts the wreckage in neat categories. People live inside them.
Ukraine's defence forces said they struck the Tolyattikauchuk plant in Russia's Samara region during the night of 11 to 12 September. The factory supplies products used by the Russian military-industrial complex. The attack sparked a fire, and Ukraine's General Staff said, "The scale of the damage is still being assessed." The plant produces synthetic rubber, monomers, fractions and additives for high-octane fuels. The Ukrainian military said synthetic rubber is used, among other purposes, in the production of solid fuel for short-range missiles and ballistic rockets. Ukrainska Pravda also reported a strike by Ukrainian forces on the Machine-Building Plant in Snizhne, in Russian-occupied territory of the Donetsk region. The plant manufactures components for gas turbine engines, including compressor and turbine discs and blades.
On 12 September, Robert "Brovdi" Browdi, commander of Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces, announced further attacks on Russia's so-called shadow fleet, which is used to transport Russian oil in circumvention of some sanctions. Browdi said that since the operation began around ten weeks earlier, Ukrainian forces had attacked 285 vessels belonging to Russia's shadow fleet operating in the Azov and Black Seas. He said 215 attacks were recorded in July, 54 in August and 16 between 1 and 11 September. Browdi said the strikes had almost brought traffic by Russia's shadow fleet in the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait to a halt and had seriously impeded its activity in the northern and north-eastern parts of the Black Sea. He released footage that he said showed an attack by Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces on a sanctioned Russian tanker belonging to the shadow fleet, reportedly escorted by a Russian helicopter. Browdi said revenues from Russian oil exports are one of the sources of funding for the war against Ukraine, and that attacks on vessels transporting Russian oil are intended to limit Moscow's financial capabilities.
Leipzig, drones, and the security state
Separately, German security services are still investigating the foiled drone attack on Leipzig/Halle airport. Previously undisclosed investigative files emerged in connection with the attempted drone attack on a Ukrainian aircraft at Leipzig/Halle Airport, according to Welt and details from security circles. The investigation identified two suspects and details of their journeys to and from Germany. German security authorities believe one suspect, the Russian citizen Oleg Le., organised the logistical preparations, while the Belarusian national Andrei Ka. is suspected of carrying out the drone attack.
The incident took place on 4 August at Leipzig/Halle Airport, where a drone fitted with explosives approached a Ukrainian Antonov transport aircraft. The device was detected and later rendered harmless. Two other drones are believed to have failed or been destroyed before the attack, and investigators found debris near the airport. Investigators said around 1.8 kilograms of Semtex was to be used, and the targeted Antonov is said to have been fuelled with around 25,000 litres of kerosene. The explosive charge did not detonate because the detonator apparently became detached, and CCTV footage is said to show the drone coming to rest directly next to the aircraft.
Investigators are also looking into possible links to other sabotage operations involving drones, explosives or so-called disposable agents. They said a recurring pattern is that people with criminal backgrounds are recruited for specific jobs while the real masterminds remain in the background. A DNA trace found on remnants of a glove on an antenna construction used to control a drone is said to match DNA data already known from Finland and Lithuania, bringing Andrei Ka. into focus. He is said to have come to the attention of authorities in both countries for ordinary criminal offences, and in Finland he is reportedly linked to property crimes. Polish authorities are also said to have mentioned his name in connection with a fire at a DIY store in Łódź in the summer of 2024, which is being investigated there as a possible act of sabotage.
German authorities apparently believe the attack was not spontaneous. Hints of multiple drones, possible hiding places for equipment and the use of different launch points point, in their view, to a pre-planned operation. Ten days after the attack, investigators reportedly found another drone and a fire site in Kabelsketal, a municipality in Saxony-Anhalt not far from the airport, and specialists secured around 50 grams of Semtex there. Potential hiding places were also examined south of the airport near Schkeuditz, where investigators said they identified several locations where material or explosives could have been stored. The search was driven forward, among other things, by analysis of a hire car believed to have been used by the suspects.
Particular importance is attached to Oleg Le., who German security authorities say is associated with the Russian military intelligence service GRU and is believed to have been responsible for the logistical side of the operation. Le. is said to have entered Germany via Turkey and later left via Berlin-Brandenburg airport, initially travelling on to Serbia. He is now back in Russia, according to the available information. German authorities were already aware when he entered the country that he could be linked to the GRU environment, but he was apparently not placed under permanent surveillance.
The dispute has had diplomatic repercussions. The federal government has already responded to the allegations and initiated measures against Russia, including the decision to close the Russian consulate general in Bonn and the Russian House in Berlin. The Russian ambassador was also summoned to the Foreign Office, and further steps, including additional measures at European level, are being examined. Moscow responded by closing the German consulate general in St Petersburg and announcing the closure of the Goethe-Institutes in Russia. The Russian government holds Berlin responsible for the escalation and continues to reject the accusations in connection with the drone attack, saying there is insufficient evidence of direct involvement by Russian state bodies.