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Strikes and counter-strikes on 29 September 2025
Summary
A look back at a weekend in which long-range attacks on infrastructure on both sides of the front were joined by a helicopter loss in Donetsk Oblast.
What did the final days of September 2025 show about the shape of the war? On 29 September 2025, the picture was one of pressure applied far from the trenches, with infrastructure on both sides under fire and a Russian helicopter reported lost near the front.
A night of mass attack
On 28 September 2025, Russian forces launched more than 600 drones and dozens of cruise missiles at Ukraine, as reported at the time. At least four people were killed and 70 others injured. The attack belonged to a campaign of strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure. Such strikes have hit energy facilities since 2022, and by mid-2024 Ukraine had only a third of its pre-war electricity generating capacity.
Belgorod goes dark
The same day, a Ukrainian missile struck a power station in Belgorod, causing a massive power outage in the Russian city. Attacks inside Russia have mainly targeted the military, the arms industry and the oil industry. Belgorod, along with Kursk and Bryansk oblasts, has also seen cross-border shelling and missile strikes. The Belgorod strike fitted a wider pattern in which energy sites on both sides became targets.
A helicopter downed in Donetsk Oblast
On 29 September 2025, Ukraine allegedly shot down a Russian Air Force Mil Mi-8 helicopter with an FPV drone in Nadaeyvka, in Pokrovsk Raion, Donetsk Oblast. The aircraft was on combat search and rescue duty. Several people were killed and several others injured.
The claim was notable for the method as much as the target. An FPV drone, a cheap and small weapon, was said to have brought down a crewed military helicopter. The details came from the allegation itself, and the toll was given only as several dead and several injured.
Reading the weekend
Taken together, the events of 28 and 29 September 2025 showed three layers of the war running at once. Russia used large salvos of drones and cruise missiles against Ukrainian territory. Ukraine answered with a missile strike that cut power in a Russian city. Along the front in Donetsk Oblast, a drone was reported to have struck an aircraft meant to rescue others.
None of these events, on its own, settled anything. Each added to a pattern in which civilians, power supply and military aircraft all sat within reach of relatively cheap long-range weapons.
