In Overnight Attacks, Russians Try to Destroy Ukrainian Air Defense Systems with Drones, Missiles

First, the Russians launched missiles from the south and then attacked with Iranian-made Shahed “kamikaze” drones, Ukrainian forces reported.

“At the beginning of the night, the enemy tried with the help of tactical aviation from the Black Sea to destroy our air defense system, for which they used Kh-31P missiles. But they were shot down over the sea,” Humenyuk said.

Following the missile attacks, the Russians sent two waves of drone attacks with an interval of more than two hours.

“At first, kamikaze drones of the Shahed-131/136 type were heading from Crimea in the direction of the Dnipropetrovsk region through the Mykolaiv region and Kherson region. In the next wave, they tried to sneak through the temporarily occupied Kherson region to the central regions and then head west,” the Southern Defense Forces reported.

One drone was shot down in the Dnipropetrovsk region.

In the Mykolaiv region, debris from a downed UAV damaged a power line. 

Power was cut off in five settlements. Work is underway to restore electricity. 

Air defense forces also were tested in the Kyiv region.

According to the regional authorities, there were no hits.

In total, the Russian army launched 18 Shaheds across Ukraine, Ukrainian forces reported.

Anti-aircraft defense shot down 16 of them. 

The Air Force said that Russian attacks were foiled in the Poltava, Kyiv, Khmelnytskyi, Mykolaiv, Kherson, Kirovohrad, Dnipropetrovsk, and Zaporizhzhia regions.

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