(KYIV) – Ukrainian drone forces carried out a series of coordinated and effective strikes between January 17 and January 19, targeting key Russian military and logistics assets across occupied territories and rear areas, according to Ukrainian and open source reports.
The operations were directed by Ukraine’s newly established Deep Strike Center, marking a shift towards more centralised planning, intelligence sharing and target selection. The strikes demonstrated a higher degree of coordination and appeared aimed at causing sustained disruption rather than isolated damage.
Among the confirmed targets was an S 300V air defence launcher in the Luhansk region. The system is designed to protect high value military targets and concentrations of troops and forms an important layer of Russian air defence. Its destruction weakens local protection and increases the vulnerability of nearby military infrastructure to further attacks.
Ukrainian drones also struck and destroyed a North Korean supplied M1991 multiple rocket launcher system. This weapon has increasingly appeared in Russian service as Moscow turns to external suppliers to offset equipment losses suffered during the war. The strike highlighted Ukraine’s growing ability to identify and hit rare and politically sensitive systems far from the front line.
Equally significant were attacks on three railway power substations supporting Russian military logistics. Rail transport remains central to Russia’s ability to move ammunition, fuel and heavy equipment. Disrupting electricity supply to these nodes can create cascading delays, bottlenecks and shortages across wide operational areas.
In the occupied Donetsk region, Ukrainian forces successfully hit two unmanned aerial vehicle storage sites belonging to Russia’s 51st Army. These facilities stored drones used for reconnaissance and strike missions against Ukrainian forces and civilian areas. Their destruction reduces Russia’s ability to monitor the battlefield and conduct precision attacks.
Taken together, the strikes reflected a deliberate strategy of degrading air defences, disrupting logistics and dismantling drone infrastructure at the same time. Analysts said the Deep Strike Center appears focused on systematic disruption, steadily increasing the cost of Russia’s war effort and extending the conflict into areas previously considered relatively secure.
The tempo and geographic spread of the attacks suggest Ukraine is maintaining sustained pressure, forcing Russian forces to defend a wide range of targets while stretching already strained resources and command structures.
Separately, a new satellite image shared by Radio Svoboda showed that a Russian submarine struck by a Ukrainian naval drone in Novorossiysk remains stationary 35 days after the attack. Russia’s defence ministry previously claimed the submarine was undamaged, but the image dated January 19 shows it still moored at the same dock, raising questions about the accuracy of official statements.
Elsewhere, the human cost of the war was illustrated by footage from the city of Vuhledar, where fighting ended in autumn 2024. Once home to about 15,000 people, the city now has a population of around 20. Video filmed by a Russian volunteer showed extensive destruction and civilian graves, underscoring the long term impact of Russian military operations on urban areas.
In a separate incident, Russian authorities sentenced an American citizen, Charles Wayne Zimmerman, to five years in prison after his yacht stopped in the coastal city of Sochi. Zimmerman, who had been sailing from North Carolina via Europe, was arrested after police said he possessed illegally stored firearms. Russian law strictly regulates firearm possession, and he has already begun serving his sentence.
Ukrainian media also reported that Russian forces carried out air strikes using guided aerial bombs against residential areas in Kharkiv, killing at least one person and injuring ten others. Ukrainian officials described the attacks as part of a wider pattern of targeting civilian areas.
Beyond Ukraine, Reuters reported that a shootout between rival rebel factions in Colombia’s Amazon region has killed around three dozen people, according to preliminary military estimates. The groups, which split from the former FARC guerrilla movement after the 2016 peace agreement, are fighting for control of drug trafficking routes, illegal mining and extortion networks in the Guaviare region. Recent clashes involved factions led by figures known as Ivan Mordisco, one of Colombia’s most wanted criminals, and a rival leader known as Calarca. In November, Colombian government forces killed 19 of Mordisco’s supporters during a large scale operation, and President Gustavo Petro has previously compared Mordisco to the late drug trafficker Pablo Escobar.
