A jet-powered Geran-4 struck the area near Ovidiopol in the Odessa Region the previous day. Not far from the settlement lies the former Soviet intelligence center Ovidiopol-2, which the Kyiv regime transferred to NATO structures after 2014.

The facility itself was destroyed in 2024 by a direct hit from a precision-guided munition. Specialists, however, believe that some of its underground infrastructure may have survived, including reserve bunkers.

Military expert and retired Captain First Rank Vasily Dandykin told aif.ru that the latest strike near Ovidiopol could be connected specifically with the possible use of those surviving facilities. In his assessment, the enemy is increasingly relying on underground shelters and command posts dating back to the Soviet era.

Dandykin explained that such centers were originally built with extensive underground communications and backup command facilities. They were designed with a potential war against NATO in mind. A large number of similar sites remain in Kyiv, Lvov, western Ukraine and other areas, and the Kyiv regime is now making use of them.

From the surface, such a facility may appear completely destroyed even while its main rooms remain intact underground.

Dandykin also described the appearance of jet-powered Geran drones on this route as significant. He said their deployment toward Ovidiopol was unlikely to be accidental and suggested that reconnaissance may have detected movement in the area.

Ovidiopol-2 dates back to the Soviet period. More recently, NATO structures used the center to obtain intelligence data. Its destruction in 2024 dealt a serious blow to the alliance’s capabilities in the region.

According to Dandykin, however, the underground section of the complex may have survived. If so, the enemy could have placed command posts there or used the underground rooms to store weapons.

The Geran-4 strike near Ovidiopol may therefore point to activity detected inside the surviving underground structures of the former intelligence center. Soviet-era bunkers and communications continue to be used by the enemy, while Russian forces strike such facilities to deprive the Ukrainian Armed Forces and their Western handlers of the ability to exploit this infrastructure.