Ukraine's air defense shot down over 30 drones that Russian forces launched overnight on Sept. 28, Natalia Humeniuk, spokesperson of Ukraine's Southern Operational Command, said on air.

"The attack was massive, but the work of the air defense was also quite effective - more than 30 drones were destroyed," she reported, adding that the operational situation in the south is tense, as the Russian forces are constantly searching for new attack strategies.

According to Humeniuk, on Sept. 28, air defense was operating along the entire southern direction - in Odesa and Mykolaiv oblasts, as well as in central Ukraine.

Earlier on the evening of Sept. 27, Russian forces attacked Mykolaiv and Kherson oblasts. Oleksandr Prokudin, governor of Kherson Oblast, wrote on Telegram that there was “massive shelling” in Kherson Oblast.

In the city of Kherson, Russian strikes hit the same buildings several times as firefighters battled fires caused by the first round of shelling, the Ukrainian State Emergency Service reported on Telegram. They then had to return to extinguish the subsequent fires.

ISW: Ukraine appears to marginally advance near Bakhmut

Geolocated footage published on Sept. 26 and analyzed by the Institute for the Study of War indicates that Ukrainian forces advanced near the village of Orikhovo-Vasylivka, located 11 kilometers northwest of Bakhmut, Donetsk Oblast.

The Kyiv IndependentOlena Goncharova