Ukraine Conflict Monitor
Update
Ukraine war situation update: 13 – 19 September 2025
Overview of political violence and conflict events in Ukraine from 13 to 19 September 2025
Key stats
1,499 political violence events
4% decrease compared to last week
113 incidents of violence targeting civilians
16% decrease compared to last week
At least 50 fatalities from civilian targeting
31% decrease compared to last week
Key events
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13 Sep.
Donetsk — Russian strikes kill four civilians, injure 10 others in Kostiantynivka
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16 Sep.
Zaporizhia — Russian strikes kill one civilian, injure 20 others in the city of Zaporizhia
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18 Sep.
Kherson — Russian forces execute three civilians in Kozachi Laheri
Key trends
- On the boundary between the Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions, Russian forces occupied two settlements, while Ukrainian forces recaptured one village.
- In the Donetsk region, Russian forces claimed control over a village east of Siversk, and Ukrainian forces reclaimed a village north of Myrnohrad.
- Russian forces launched at least 29 long-range missile and drone strikes, mostly affecting the Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhia regions, but also reaching Kyiv city and the surrounding eponymous region, as well as the western region of Lviv.
- Russian strikes killed at least 42 civilians in the Donetsk, Kherson, Zaporizhia, Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, and Chernihiv regions. Ukrainian strikes reportedly killed three civilians in the Russia-occupied parts of the Zaporizhia and Luhansk regions.
Spotlight: Two Ukrainian commanders lose their jobs due to Russian advances in the Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhia regions
On 15 September, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrskyi dismissed the commanders of the 17th and 20th Army Corps for failure to preserve personnel and maintain positions.1 The two corps have resisted incremental Russian advances in the western part of the Zaporizhia region and at its junction with the Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk regions. Since Russian forces pushed fighting into the Dnipropetrovsk region in early June 2025, ACLED has recorded the capture of nine Ukrainian settlements in the Dnipropetrovsk region, three other settlements in the Zaporizhia region, and over two dozen settlements west and north of Velyka Novosilka in the Donetsk region. Ukrainian forces reclaimed only four settlements in the said junction.
Despite some successful counter-attacks elsewhere along the over 1,200-kilometer frontline, Ukrainian forces are stretched thin. Ukrainian defenders pushed back Russian advances north of Sumy city and most recently east of Dobropillia2 in the Donetsk region. Nevertheless, Russian forces are infiltrating Kupiansk in the Kharkiv region and claiming ground in the direction of Lyman in the Donetsk region,3 including the capture of the Serebryanskyy forest after a protracted battle.4 These advances are indicative of the longer-term effort to envelop the last Ukrainian strongholds in the Donetsk region in the area of Slovyansk-Kramatorsk-Kostiantynivka urban agglomeration. Fighting in northern and southern Ukraine is mostly aimed at exacerbating the acute shortage of personnel among Ukrainian defenders.
The dismissal of Corps commanders, for the first time since their introduction in Ukraine's Armed Forces, is occurring at a critical moment in the war: at the height of Russia’s offensive to seize the entire Donetsk region and amid a military reform in Ukraine aiming to improve troop management and cohesion.
Explore the ACLED Conflict Exposure Calculator to assess the numbers of people affected by armed violence, disaggregated by locations, time period, and actors involved.
