Victory Chronicles-DAY 1020

According to a British intelligence review, the Ukrainian Armed Forces successfully destroyed a Russian S-400 air defense missile system in the Russian-occupied Crimea. 

The attack took place on November 29, 2024, in Simferopol. The intelligence report includes images showing the destruction, including two craters and scattered debris. Social media reports at the time described an explosion and detonation of rocket fuel. 

This is the second report of the Ukrainian military successfully destroying Russian S-400 systems in November, following a similar incident in the Kursk region on November 23. The S-400 is a Russian missile system designed to combat various aerial threats, including long-range radar detection, control aircraft, electronic warfare, air command posts, and strategic bombers.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has shared on Facebook that Russia launched a series of attacks against Ukraine last week, utilizing almost 500 guided bombs, over 400 attack drones, and nearly 20 missiles of different types. These attacks have been ongoing, and President Zelenskyy describes them as consistent acts of terrorism against Ukrainian cities and communities. The President urges the international community, including Europe, America, and the rest of the world, to take collective action to address this ongoing war and daily terror. President Zelenskyy emphasizes the need for joint efforts to achieve a just peace. He also asserts that guarantees of peace should accompany any practical peace with Russia.

Russian occupiers have developed and started installing FPV (first-person view) traffic lights that can warn of FPV drones. The traffic lights are placed on poles near important routes for the movement of equipment. The system has three functions: FPV no, FPV near, and FPV far, allowing the Russian occupiers to be alerted to the operation of FPV drones. The traffic lights likely work similarly to an infantry detector, with an analyzer of the operating frequency range to detect FPV drones in advance. The traffic light detector can also be manually operated by an operator who sets the desired light based on the situation. Additionally, the detector may have a sound analyzer to detect drones by the sound of their engine, which can also help detect drones controlled by fiber optics. 

On the night of December 5-6, a special operation involving SBU Sea Baby maritime drones took place in Kerch Bay, targeting Russian helicopters, planes, and patrol boats. The drones, equipped with large-caliber machine guns, engaged the Russian military, causing damage to their helicopters and requiring major repairs. Intercepted Russian radio communications mentioned casualties on board the helicopters. The SBU drones also targeted a barge carrying military equipment and repair equipment for the Crimean Bridge, previously bombed by the Ukrainian Special Service. The Sea Baby drones are a versatile platform capable of accommodating various weapons. The success of this operation demonstrates their effectiveness.

Russian ultranationalist milbloggers – many of whom fought in or covered the Syrian war – are upset about the fall of the Assad regime, criticizing it as yet another failure of Russian foreign policy to exert and maintain influence in areas of strategic importance. The Russian ultranationalist community broadly criticized the Assad regime for becoming complacent in recent years by allowing its military to degrade and rely on other countries, including Russia and Iran, to provide the Assad regime with defensive capabilities. The milbloggers largely focused on the impact the regime’s collapse has on Russia, however, with some describing the fall of the Assad regime as a significant Russian foreign policy failure as Russia did not consistently work to increase Russian influence in the region or push the Assad regime to conduct governmental reforms under the Kremlin’s direction. Some milbloggers criticized the Kremlin for not realizing that Assad’s military was degraded and that the opposition groups in Syria would likely someday renew offensive operations to exploit Russia’s “mistakes” in Syria, with one milblogger noting that Assad’s two major allies, Russia and Iran, are currently focusing on the wars in Ukraine and Israel and Lebanon, respectively. One milblogger claimed that many Russian independent analysts and military correspondents had been warning about this possible course of action for years and reiterated longstanding ultranationalist complaints about the lack of a meaningful civil society in Russia to help avoid significant foreign policy failures. A Kremlin-affiliated milblogger bemoaned the impact on Russia’s global image, claiming that Russia’s reputation is now entirely dependent on the outcome of its war in Ukraine, which is “more important [to Russia] than anything now.”

Lieutenant Pavlo-Voitekh “Myslyvets” Dombrovskyi was killed on 19 July 2024 while performing a combat mission near the village of Borova, Kharkiv region. The officer would have turned 46 in August.

Pavlo-Voitekh was born in Kazakhstan. Later, the Dombrovskyi family moved to the village of Chernykhiv, Lviv region. He received a vocational education in Rudky and joined the military. After his marriage, he settled in Lviv. He worked at the Lviv branch of Oschadbank for over 10 years, and during the same period he also received a master’s degree from the Lviv Institute of Banking. Since 2016, he has worked abroad, particularly in Poland and Lithuania. He likes to fish and hike in the mountains in his spare time.

From the first days of the full-scale invasion, the man returned from abroad and volunteered to defend the state from the occupiers. He fought in the 125th separate territorial defense brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He defended the Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, and Donetsk regions. He was always on the frontline, and despite being wounded, he always returned to the front.

For his merits, the officer was awarded the President’s decoration ‘For Defence of Ukraine’ and the medal ‘For Wounds.’ ‘He is a hero with a capital H. He gave the most valuable thing – his life – for us, for a free Ukraine and peace,’ said his wife.

The defender was buried on Mars Field in Lviv. Pavlo is survived by his wife Olha, daughters Zoryana and Oksana, other relatives, friends and colleagues.

*Pavlo’s story on the Heroes Memorial – a platform for stories about the fallen defenders of Ukraine.

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