Aerial bombardments targeted Russian missile launchers and unmanned aerial vehicle facilities across 10 provinces on September 17 and 18. Ukrainian missiles destroyed three production buildings at Atlant Aero in Taganrog and struck three S-400 launchers in the Bryansk region. Other hits included an Orion UAV ground control station at Saky airfield in Crimea and materiel depots in Donetsk and Luhansk.

The barrage targeted regions including Moscow, where Mayor Sergei Sobyanin reported more than 350 drones headed toward the capital. Russia's Ministry of Defense claimed to have downed 629 drones in total during the overnight attacks, which coincided with the opening of polls for the first parliamentary elections since the start of the war. Twelve people were injured in retaliatory Russian drone strikes across Ukraine.