Russian drones target Volyn, Rivne oblasts in rare mass attack in western Ukraine

Russian forces carried out a drone attack on western Ukraine on September 12, resulting in injuries and power outages in Volyn and Rivne oblasts, according to regional authorities. The Volyn Oblast was targeted for over four hours, with more than ten unmanned aerial vehicles entering its airspace, primarily aimed at the Kovel community.

Five individuals sustained injuries and received medical attention; no fatalities were reported. Debris from one drone also damaged a passenger train in Lutsk without causing passenger injuries.

Simultaneously, power blackouts affected portions of Dubno and the Rivne district in neighboring Rivne Oblast, with an unspecified facility in the Sarny district being destroyed. No casualties were confirmed, and utility crews were working to restore electricity. These attacks demonstrate Russia's capability to penetrate deep into Ukrainian territory, far from the front lines.

Both Volyn, which borders Poland and Belarus, and Rivne, situated immediately to the east of the latter, have become frequent targets of Russian drone and missile strikes, primarily aimed at disrupting infrastructure. Despite being less targeted than Kyiv or Odesa, and even less so than frontline cities in Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia oblasts, these western regions have increasingly experienced Russian drone assaults during large-scale nationwide operations.

President Volodymyr Zelensky attributed these attacks to Russia's shift from a frontline-focused strategy to targeting the nation's economic framework, with the attacks on Volyn and Rivne being part of a broader Russian drone campaign across Ukraine on September 12, during which nearly five hundred strike drones were deployed.