Key facts
- Ukraine's Southern Defense Forces said the Rubicon base in Berdyansk lay 107 kilometers behind the front lines.
- Ukraine's General Staff said the November 7 attack hit a Rubicon temporary deployment point and a drone control point.
- The Southern Defense Forces said Rubicon lost trained specialists who instructed drone operators.
- The operation was carried out with the SZRU, Ukraine's Security Service and the 412th Separate Unmanned Systems Regiment.
- Russia pulled Rubicon units from the front line in northern Donetsk Oblast in September after losses, per the report.
Ukrainian forces struck a base of the Russian Rubicon drone unit in the occupied city of Berdyansk in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Ukraine's Southern Defense Forces said on November 9. The base sat 107 kilometers (66 miles) behind the front lines, the Southern Defense Forces said.
The Southern Defense Forces said the operation was carried out jointly with the Ukrainian Foreign Intelligence Service (SZRU), Ukraine's Security Service and the 412th Separate Unmanned Systems Regiment. "This operation once again proves that there is no safe rear for Russian occupiers," the Southern Defense Forces said.
Ukraine's General Staff said the attack took place on November 7 and hit a Rubicon temporary deployment point and a drone control point. "The enemy's losses are still being clarified, but the effect is already evident: each disabled control point means fewer Russian drones over our positions and roads," the General Staff said.
The Rubicon Center for Advanced Unmanned Technologies is a large Russian drone unit and the core of Russia's Unmanned Systems branch of the military, according to the report. It specializes in cutting off logistics, hunting Ukrainian drone teams on the ground and intercepting reconnaissance and strike drones, and is made up of detachments each numbering several hundred personnel.
In September, Russia pulled Rubicon units from the front line in northern Donetsk Oblast after heavy losses during Ukraine's Operation Vivaldi offensive, according to the report. In the Berdyansk strike, Rubicon "lost trained specialists who were engaged in training operators and passed on their experience to others," the Southern Defense Forces said.