Sever-Akhmat

On 20-21 May 2026, Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces struck Sever-Akhmat's drone training facility in Snizhne, Donetsk Oblast, killing 65 cadets and one instructor in what Kyiv called Operation SNOW for Akhmat. A follow-up strike hit the Rubikon Centre in Starobilsk on the night of 21-22 May. Russia's Defence Ministry cited both strikes as the formal justification for the 24 May Oreshnik barrage on Ukraine, the most destructive attack on the Kyiv region of the full-scale war.

Sever-Akhmat (also written Sever Akhmat or North-Akhmat) is a Chechen volunteer regiment fighting under Russian command in Ukraine. It is part of the network of Kadyrov-affiliated units established from mid-2022 onwards, named in honour of Akhmad Kadyrov, father of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov. The regiment is formally subordinate to the Russian Ministry of Defence and has been deployed along the eastern front, including positions around Bakhmut after the Wagner Group's withdrawal in mid-2023. The Snizhne facility was one of the unit's drone warfare training sites, reflecting the regiment's adaptation to unmanned-systems warfare.

The Snizhne strike is significant for two reasons: it demonstrated Ukraine's ability to Conduct precision deep strikes inside occupied Donetsk against hardened training infrastructure, and it produced the largest single-incident casualty count attributed to Sever-Akhmat, triggering an Oreshnik response that drew international attention and hardened Western support for Ukrainian air defence.