Help us keep bringing the truth to light, even when Russia turns the lights out.

Shop and support
War

Command post of elite Russian Rubikon drone unit hit in occupied Donetsk, Ukraine says

• 1 min read
Command post of elite Russian Rubikon drone unit hit in occupied Donetsk, Ukraine says
Alleged Ukrainian heavy bomber drone (nicknamed “Baba Yaga” by Russian forces) targeted by russian interceptor in an unspecified location in a video posted on Nov. 28, 2025. (Rubikon/Telegram)

Long-range Ukrainian drones struck a command post of Moscow's elite drone unit known as the Rubikon Center for Unmanned Technologies in Russian-occupied Donetsk, Ukraine's Special Operations Forces (SSO) reported on March 18.

The SSO said the overnight strikes also hit a coordination center for Russian unmanned systems units, which are also located in Donetsk, along with ammunition depots, unspecified equipment, and a storage site in a village about a two-hour drive southwest of the occupied city.

Rubikon, which continues to post drone footage of the unit's work against Ukrainian forces, has not commented on the SSO's claim as of the time of publication. The Russian Defense Ministry has also not reacted to the SSO's claim.

0:00
/

Outgunned and outmanned on the front, Ukraine has attempted to slowly grind down Russia's war machine from afar, striking military targets and infrastructure supporting the Russian army mainly with its domestically produced drones.

The SSO claims that "underground members" of the Resistance Movement against Russian occupation have helped its troops conduct the drone strikes.

A core part of Russia's unmanned system program to bolster its drone warfare against Ukraine, Rubikon specializes in both hunting down Ukrainian drone pilots and shooting their drones in the sky.

Avatar
Asami Terajima

Reporter

Asami Terajima is a reporter at the Kyiv Independent covering Ukrainian military affairs and front-line developments. She is the co-author of the weekly War Notes newsletter. She previously worked as a business reporter for the Kyiv Post, focusing on international trade, infrastructure, investment, and energy. Originally from Japan, Terajima moved to Ukraine during childhood and completed her bachelor's degree in Business Administration in the U.S. She is the winner of the Thomson Reuters Foundation's Kurt Schork Award in International Journalism 2023 (Local Reporter category) and the George Weidenfeld Prize, awarded as part of Germany's Axel Springer Prize 2023. She was also featured on the Media Development Foundation's 2023 "25 under 25: Young and Bold" list of emerging media makers in Ukraine. She is among the finalists for the U.K.'s One World Media Award 2026 in the Print category and the French Bayeux Calvados-Normandy award 2025 for war correspondents in the Young Reporter category.

Read more
News Feed
Video

In May 2026, Ukraine’s 3rd Army Corps launched a secret counteroffensive now known as Operation Vivaldi, aiming to strengthen Ukraine’s defensive positions in the Lyman and Sviatohirsk sectors and disrupt Russia’s plans to encircle Ukraine’s key strongholds – the cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.

"Russia is building the military-industrial capacity to continue waging wars even after the war in Ukraine ends. These are not the actions of a country preparing for lasting peace," Oleksandr Danylyuk, chairman of the Center for Defense Reforms and former chief adviser to Ukraine’s defense minister, told the Kyiv Independent.

 (Updated:  )

For almost two years, student-led demonstrations in Serbia rallied against Vucic's right-wing incumbent Serbian Progressive Party. Protesting against alleged corruption in the government, the movement was triggered when a train station canopy in the city of Novi Sad collapsed in 2024, killing 16 people.

Show More