Ukrainian drones strike Russian FSB coordination center in occupied Kherson Oblast, SBU says

Thirteen Ukrainian drones struck a coordination center and a base used by Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) in the Russian-occupied part of Kherson Oblast, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said on July 20.

The operation was conducted by special forces from the SBU's Alpha Special Operations Center. The facility was located inside a boarding house in the Russian-occupied part of the region, according to the agency.

Preliminary reports indicated that around 100 Russian service members may have been present at the facility at the time of the attack, the SBU said.

More than 70 vehicles were also located at the site, which was protected by armed guards, checkpoints, engineering barriers, and underground shelters, according to the statement.

The SBU said 13 of its drones hit the facility, causing a large fire. The agency did not disclose the number of casualties or the precise location of the target.

"Such special operations inflict significant losses on the enemy in the temporarily occupied territories, disrupt their command and control systems, force the Russians to redeploy additional forces to guard their own facilities, and significantly complicate logistics and the supply of FSB units," SBU said.

The Kyiv Independent could not independently verify the claims. Russia has not publicly commented on the strike.

Russia occupied most of Kherson Oblast during the opening weeks of its full-scale invasion in 2022. Ukrainian forces liberated the regional capital and other territory on the western bank of the Dnipro River in November that year, but Russia continues to occupy most of the oblast's eastern bank.

The occupied part of Kherson Oblast forms a key section of Russia's land corridor to occupied Crimea and contains military bases, command facilities, and supply routes supporting Russian forces in southern Ukraine.