In the early hours of 18 May, Ukrainian drones struck the village of Glushkovo in Russia’s Kursk region, igniting a fire that razed the private home of Pavel Zolotaryov, head of the Glushkovsky district. Although no casualties were reported, the house was completely destroyed. According to initial reports circulating widely on Russian social media platforms, no one was inside at the time.
While Russian regional authorities have yet to confirm the incident, the strike is seen as part of an intensifying campaign by Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles against Russian border areas. On the same morning, the Russian Ministry of Defence claimed that 14 fixed-wing Ukrainian drones were intercepted and destroyed over the Belgorod region, which borders Kursk.
The Glushkovsky district lies just 10 kilometres from Ukraine and is frequently hit by artillery and drone attacks. Just days before, on 12 May, acting Kursk region governor Alexander Kinshtein reported that another Ukrainian drone strike had destroyed a residential building and ignited a second, again without casualties.
According to the Telegram channel Kursknow, the attack on Zolotaryov’s house involved a First Person View (FPV) drone armed with an explosive device. The drone hit the roof, setting off a blaze that quickly consumed the wooden structure.
Meanwhile, in fierce frontline fighting, a Ukrainian soldier from the third separate assault brigade killed five Russian troops in a defensive operation. Despite being outnumbered, the soldier, known by the call sign Hina, held his position after a Russian assault targeting his brigade’s mechanised battalion. Mortar fire and FPV drones preceded the ground assault.
When a fellow soldier’s machine gun jammed during the attack, Hina took charge. A grenade exploded near him, injuring his jaw, yet he shot and killed the advancing Russians at close range. Even after surviving an FPV drone overhead, he emerged to finish off a wounded enemy soldier who had reopened fire. “In a fight where it’s either you or them, there’s no room for fear,” Hina said.
In another incident in the north, a Ukrainian soldier from the K2 battalion forced a Russian assault group to abandon captured trenches. His close combat actions pushed Russian troops into open terrain where Ukrainian drone operators were waiting to eliminate them.
The intensification of Ukrainian attacks comes as Russia prepares for its so-called West 2025 military drills in Belarus this September. Analysts warn that if Russia’s invasion of Ukraine fails, the Russian dictator may attempt to annex Belarus outright, potentially before moving west toward the Baltic states.
