Russian forces conducted a series of drone and missile strikes against Ukraine on the night of April 7 to 8 and during the day on April 8.
Ukrainian military officials reported on April 8 that Russian forces launched 24 Shahed-136/131 drones from Krasnodar Krai, Kursk Oblast, and occupied Crimea and a Kh-59 cruise missile from occupied Zaporizhia Oblast.[53] Ukrainian forces reportedly downed 17 Shahed drones over Odesa, Mykolaiv, Kirovohrad, Khmelnytskyi, and Zhytomyr oblasts and the Kh-59 missile over Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.[54] Ukraine’s Southern Operational Command reported that Russian forces also conducted three missile strikes using likely Iskander-M ballistic missiles and Kh-59 missiles against Dnipropetrovsk Oblast and another strike with a Kh-35 anti-ship missile against Mykolaiv Oblast during the day on April 8.[55] Ukraine’s Southern Operational Command reported that unspecified Russian missiles struck infrastructure in southern Ukraine and that Russian drones struck Odesa City.[56] The Zvyahel City Council stated that Russian forces also struck an unspecified infrastructure facility in Zvyahel, Zhytomyr Oblast.[57]
www.understandingwar.org/...
The drones were launched from Russia’s port town of Primorsko-Akhtarsk located on the coast of the Sea of Azov, and Cape Chauda in the occupied Crimea.
refineries
The Russian missile ship Serpukhov, which was docked off the exclave of Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea, was set on fire on April 8, Ukraine's military intelligence claimed.
Ukraine’s Main Military Intelligence Directorate (GUR) indirectly suggested that it may have been responsible for an explosion that disabled a Russian Baltic Fleet small missile carrier at the naval base in Baltiysk, Kaliningrad Oblast on April 7. The GUR published footage on April 8 allegedly of an explosive detonating in the control room of the Russian Baltic Fleet’s Serpukhov Project 21631 Buyan-M class corvette on April 7.[5] The GUR reported that the resulting fire destroyed the Serpukhov’s automation and communications systems and that repairs will take a long time to complete. Some Ukrainian media outlets cited their sources within GUR as stating that GUR conducted the attack against the ship.[6] ISW has not observed independent confirmation of damage to the Serpukhov. Baltic Fleet elements in Kaliningrad Oblast have notably conducted several recent electronic warfare (EW) exercises, and Estonian and United Kingdom (UK) officials have linked Russian EW forces in Kaliningrad with multiple recent GPS jamming incidents in the Baltic region since December 2023, including one incident that jammed the satellite signal of a plane carrying UK Defense Secretary Grant Shapps.[7]
www.understandingwar.org/...
Terrified Of Ukraine’s Drones, the Russians Built A Shell Over A Tank
- Ukrainian drone strikes against Russian oil refineries are reportedly forcing Russia to seek gasoline imports from Kazakhstan.
- Ukraine’s Main Military Intelligence Directorate (GUR) indirectly suggested that it may have been responsible for an explosion that disabled a Russian Baltic Fleet small missile carrier at the naval base in Baltiysk, Kaliningrad Oblast on April 7.
- Recent discourse among select Russian milbloggers highlights contradictory Russian rhetoric in the Russian information space between narratives that seek to portray Russian forces as more capable than Ukrainian forces and other narratives that seek to criticize the Russian military for shortcomings that result in high Russian infantry casualties.
- The Kremlin-affiliated governor of the pro-Russian Moldova autonomous region of Gagauzia, Yevgenia Gutsul, insinuated that Romanian officials control the Moldovan government — the latest in a series of recent Kremlin efforts to question European pro-Western governments’ sovereignty.
- Russian forces recently made confirmed advances near Kreminna, Bakhmut, Avdiivka, and Donetsk City.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed the Russian Cabinet of Ministers and Russian machine construction company KONAR JSC to increase the production of components for the domestic machine tools industry, likely as part of ongoing efforts to expand the Russian defense industrial base (DIB) and mitigate the effects of international sanctions.
www.understandingwar.org/...
www.understandingwar.org/...
www.understandingwar.org/...
www.understandingwar.org/...
Russian forces recently captured limited positions north of Avdiivka, but Ukrainian forces counterattacked and regained some of these lost positions. Geolocated footage published on April 8 shows that Russian forces initially advanced to a windbreak and forest area east of Novokalynove (north of Avdiivka) and to a small building on the southeastern outskirts of the settlement.[33] ... Additional geolocated footage published on April 8 shows that Ukrainian forces counterattacked in the same forest area east of Novokalynove.[35] The windbreak area depicted in the geolocated footage is about 650 meters from the settlement. The geolocated footage of the Ukrainian attack ... The Ukrainian General Staff reported continued positional engagements near Berdychi and southwest of Avdiivka near Pervomaiske, Nevelske, and Netaylove.[40] Elements of the 1st Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR AC) reportedly continue to support elements of the Russian “Center” Group of Forces along the Berdychi-Semenivka line.[41]
www.understandingwar.org/...
www.understandingwar.org/...
www.understandingwar.org/...
www.understandingwar.org/...
