Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces struck a Russian military airfield in Rostov-on-Don overnight into Sept. 17, destroying one An-12 and two An-26 transport aircraft along with three helicopters, Defense blog reports.
Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s Security Service, the SBU, carried out the airfield strike as part of a broader overnight operation that also hit the Slavneft-YANOS oil refinery in Yaroslavl, a joint effort involving Ukraine’s military intelligence directorate, GUR, and its foreign intelligence service, SZR. He said the operation also produced unspecified results in the Black Sea.
Rostov Oblast Governor Yury Slyusar confirmed a fire broke out at the site after falling drone debris damaged a transformer substation, cutting power in four districts of Rostov-on-Don. He said preliminary information showed no deaths or injuries, and that the fire was extinguished. NASA’s FIRMS satellite fire-detection service recorded a fire in the area of the airfield’s aircraft parking apron, and the independent Russian monitoring channel Astra separately identified the blaze as occurring on the grounds of the Rostov-on-Don Central military airfield, near the same parking area where military aircraft and helicopters are typically stationed.
The Rostov-on-Don airfield has been a recurring target for Ukraine this year. Fires have been reported there at least eight times in 2026, including strikes on March 28, April 26, May 8, May 22, July 6, July 16, Aug. 6 and Aug. 28. Ukraine’s General Staff also said it struck the same airfield on Sept. 6, along with a Podlet radar station and two Pantsir-S1 air defense systems elsewhere in Rostov Oblast.
“Thanks to our soldiers, who make war tangible for Russia every day,” Zelenskyy said. “Tonight, thanks to a joint operation by the SBU, GUR and SZR, the Yaroslavl oil refinery was hit. The Security Service also worked precisely against the military airfield in Rostov: the destruction of one An-12, two An-26s and three more helicopters has been confirmed. There are good results in the Black Sea too. We respond to aggression every day. Russia must choose peace.”
Russia’s Defense Ministry had not issued its own damage assessment or confirmed how many drones were involved in the overnight attack as of publication. The exact condition of the aircraft Zelenskyy named, and whether any were airworthy at the time of the strike, has not been independently verified beyond the fire confirmed by Slyusar, NASA’s satellite detection, and Astra’s analysis.
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