Ukraine's Defense Forces hit a ground control station for the Orion UAV system at Saky airfield in Crimea and an ammunition depot near Dovzhansk in the Luhansk region on Sept 17 and 18. The Ukrainian General Staff reported the destruction of one of three S-400 launchers in the Bryansk region used to shell Kyiv, along with a strike drone launch site near Donetsk.

Russia's Defense Ministry claimed its air defenses intercepted 629 Ukrainian drones overnight across 10 regions, including Tver, Smolensk, and Krasnodar Krai. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin stated more than 350 drones targeted the capital as Russia opened polls for its first parliamentary elections since the start of the war, with Rostov air defenses shifting into all-round defense to counter the barrage.