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Strikes on power and a downed helicopter, 29 September 2025
Summary
A look back at how the war's air and energy fronts stood on 29 September 2025, after a heavy Russian barrage and a Ukrainian strike in Belgorod.
What did the war look like on 29 September 2025? It was a day shaped by the aftermath of a large overnight assault on Ukraine and by an incident near the front line in Donetsk Oblast.
On 29 September 2025, Ukraine allegedly shot down a Russian Air Force Mil Mi-8 helicopter on combat search and rescue duties, using an FPV drone. The incident took place in Nadaeyvka, in Pokrovsk Raion, Donetsk Oblast. Several people were killed and several others injured.
The barrage the day before
The previous day, 28 September 2025, Russian forces launched more than 600 drones and dozens of cruise missiles at Ukraine. At least four people were killed and 70 others injured. Strikes of this kind belong to a pattern of Russian attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure. From 2022 these strikes hit civilian areas beyond the battlefield, particularly critical power infrastructure, which is considered a war crime. By mid-2024 Ukraine had only a third of its pre-war electricity generating capacity, and some gas distribution and district heating had also been hit.
Belgorod
Also on 28 September 2025, 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, and have included drone strikes, firebombing and rail sabotage. Cross-border shelling and missile strikes have been concentrated mainly in Belgorod, Kursk and Bryansk oblasts.
What the sequence shows
Taken together, the events of 28 and 29 September 2025 show fighting on several levels at once: mass drone and missile salvoes aimed at Ukraine, a strike on energy infrastructure in a Russian border city, and a low-cost FPV drone reportedly bringing down a military helicopter close to the front line in Donetsk Oblast. The helicopter was on a rescue mission, a role that places aircraft near the fighting.
The loss in Nadaeyvka was described as alleged, and the toll was given only as several dead and several injured. The Belgorod outage and the Russian barrage, by contrast, were attacks on power and civilian areas, with the Russian assault leaving 70 people injured in Ukraine.
