Key developments on Sept. 24:
- Russia strikes Ukrainian training ground with Iskander missiles, casualties reported
- Ukraine hits oil facilities, drone production site in Russia, General Staff confirms
- Russia moves toward year-round military conscription under new bill
- Russian troops shoot family, use underage daughter as human shield in eastern Ukraine, military says
- Kursk operation cost was 'too high' for Ukraine, ex-military chief Zaluzhnyi says
Russia launched an attack on a Ukrainian Ground Forces training ground on Sept. 24, including two Iskander ballistic missiles, causing casualties among personnel, the military reported.
Despite security precautions, a direct hit against a shelter made it impossible to fully prevent casualties, according to the military.
"The relevant emergency services are working at the scene. The injured personnel are receiving all necessary medical assistance," the statement said.
The Ukrainian Ground Forces did not disclose the location of the strike.
The military added that efforts are ongoing to fortify training centers, ranges, and other military infrastructure with reinforced shelters to reduce casualties from continued Russian attacks.
Russian forces have repeatedly targeted Ukrainian training grounds, including sites far from the front lines. These strikes have raised concerns over the safety of personnel and the preparedness of protective measures at rear-area facilities.
Ukraine hits oil facilities, drone production site in Russia, General Staff confirms
Ukraine carried out strikes on multiple targets in Russia linked to oil refining and drone production, Ukraine’s General Staff confirmed on Sept. 24.
The General Staff said the strike hit the Gazprom Neftekhim Salavat petrochemical plant in the Republic of Bashkortostan, specifically the ELOU-AVT-6 primary oil refining unit. Preliminary reports indicate the attack caused a fire at the site.
The targeted facility processes up to 10 million tons of oil annually and is a key producer of liquid rocket fuel for Russia, according to the General Staff.
In addition to the strike on the oil refinery in the Republic of Bashkortostan, Ukrainian forces also targeted key infrastructure sites involved in the country’s energy and defense sectors.
The Kuzmichi-1 oil pumping station, part of the crude oil transport network supplying Russia’s southern regions, was among the facilities hit. Another strike targeted the Zenzevatka pumping station, which services the Kuybyshev-Tikhoretsk main oil pipeline.
Ukrainian forces struck a drone production facility in the village of Valuyki in Russia’s Belgorod Oblast as well. While the full extent of the damage is still being assessed, a fire reportedly broke out at the site following the attack.
Ukraine’s General Staff also confirmed that a long-range strike on Sept. 22 targeted the Astrakhan gas processing plant in southern Russia, forcing a partial shutdown of operations.
The facility, located in Russia’s Astrakhan Oblast, is one of the world’s largest gas chemical complexes and the country’s primary producer of sulfur used in explosives, accounting for up to 66% of national output. The plant processes up to 3.2 million tons of oil products annually, according to the General Staff.
The Kyiv Independent could not verify the claims.
Russia moves toward year-round military conscription under new bill
Russia's parliament passed a bill in the first reading on Sept. 24 that would introduce year-round conscription, replacing spring and fall draft cycles, pro-government outlet Kommersant reported.
While conscripts are officially barred from being deployed abroad, reports indicate that many are pressured into signing contracts with Russia's Defense Ministry and sent to fight in Ukraine.
The bill would overhaul the existing system by allowing enlistment offices to conduct medical exams, psychological screenings, and draft board sessions throughout the year.
Under the proposed system, draft notices would be issued year-round.
The reform is meant to ease pressure on military commissariats, according to Andrei Kartapolov, chairman of the parliament's Defense Committee and the bill's author.
Russia drafts young men twice a year for one year of compulsory service.
Russian President Vladimir Putin's partial mobilization in 2022, the first since World War II, triggered protests across Russia and a mass exodus of more than 261,000 men.
Although the Kremlin declared mobilization "completed," it has never been officially ended by a decree.
Russian troops shoot family, use underage daughter as human shield in eastern Ukraine, military says
Russian forces took an underage girl hostage to use her as a human shield after murdering her parents in a front-line village in eastern Ukraine, the Ukrainian 3rd Army Corps reported on Sept. 24.
The civilians were killed in the area of responsibility of the 3rd Army Corps, in the village of Shandryholove in Donetsk Oblast.
Ukrainian authorities have documented a number of cases of Russian troops murdering civilians in front-line areas since the outbreak of the full-scale war in 2022, part of a wider pattern of abuse and repression.
"Russia is using (the captured girl) as a human shield for its unit advancing in the Lyman sector," the military unit said.
Even before the assault on the settlement, a Russian commander with the callsign "Bali" reportedly ordered his troops to "kill everyone indiscriminately," including the civilian population, "except for the children."
A video released by the 3rd Corps shows aerial footage of Russian troops taking the girl hostage, and includes intercepted audio of the Russian commander's orders.
A Russian unit broke into a house and killed the girl's parents before abducting her. She was then held hostage to prevent Ukrainian troops from opening fire during the ongoing battle, according to the military.
"All radio intercepts confirm that Russian actions were premeditated," the statement read.
Murdering civilians and using them as human shields constitutes a war crime under the Geneva Conventions.
Kursk operation cost was 'too high' for Ukraine, ex-military chief Zaluzhnyi says
Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Ukraine's former commander-in-chief, offered his first public assessment of Ukraine's 2024 cross-border operation in Russia's Kursk Oblast in an op-ed for the Ukrainian news outlet Mirror of the Week on Sept. 24.
"I don't know the cost of such actions, but it is clear that it was too high," he said.
Ukraine launched the unprecedented incursion in August 2024, advancing into Russian territory and seizing 1,300 square kilometers (500 square miles) within the first months.
The operation, planned by Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi, sought to divert Russian troops from eastern Ukraine and disrupt Moscow's plans to invade Sumy Oblast, which borders Kursk Oblast.
Russia, reinforced by around 12,000 North Korean troops, launched a counter-offensive this spring that later forced Ukraine out of most of the captured Russian territory.
Zaluzhnyi, the current ambassador to the U.K., said that limited incursions can be undertaken, but practice showed they often failed to deliver long-term success.
"Practice has shown that, ultimately, an isolated tactical breakthrough on a narrow section of the front does not bring the necessary success to the attacking side," he wrote.
The former military chief added that Russia's forces had managed to leverage "technological and tactical advantages" to blunt Ukraine's gains and later counterattack.
Zaluzhnyi's comments contrast with Syrskyi's, who has consistently emphasized heavy Russian losses as the primary achievement of the Kursk campaign.
Video Editor (Freelance) for the War Crimes Investigations Unit