Ukraine’s Air Defenses Shoot Down Eight Enemy Shahed UAVs, Five Missiles

The Ukrainian Defense Forces shot down eight Russian Shahed attack drones and five missiles overnight and in the early morning of Aug. 18.

Ukrainian Air Force Commander, Lieutenant General Mykola Oleshchuk announced this on Telegram, Ukrinform reports.

According to him, overnight and into the early morning of Aug. 18, the Russians attacked Ukraine with ballistic missiles launched from Russia’s Kursk and Voronezh regions, cruise and guided missiles, and Shahed attack UAVs launched from the Kursk region.

In total, the Air Force's radar troops detected 16 aerial targets: one Iskander-M ballistic missile, two KN-23 ballistic missiles, two Kh-59 guided missiles, three cruise missiles (type to be specified), eight Shahed-131/136 attack UAVs.

The Air Force anti-aircraft missile forces, mobile firing groups of the Ukrainian Defense Forces and EW units shot down 13 aerial targets within the Kyiv, Sumy and Poltava regions: two KN-23 ballistic missiles, three cruise missiles (type to be specified), eight Shahed-131/136 attack drones.

The rest of the missiles that were not included in the statistics of those shot down did not reach their intended targets, Oleshchuk explained.  

According to preliminary reports, there were no casualties.

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Russians Reportedly Shift Military Equipment and Ammo from Crimea to Kursk

According to partisans, this transfer of equipment indicates a shortage of weapons in the Kursk sector, which is being compensated for by moving resources from currently less active frontline areas.

As reported by Ukrinform, on the morning of Aug. 18, an air alert was announced twice in Kyiv and several other regions and air defenses were activated.