Ukraine’s air defenses down 48 missiles, 64 drones in Russian combined mass attack
Russian forces launched a combined assault on Ukraine overnight on Wednesday, deploying 215 aerial targets, including 70 missiles of various types and 145 drones, primarily targeting Kyiv, according to Ukraine’s Air Force.
The defense effort involved fighter jets, anti-aircraft missile units, electronic warfare systems, and mobile fire groups from the Air Force and Defense Forces.
Ukrainian forces destroyed:
- 7 of 11 Iskander-M/KN-23 ballistic missiles;
- 31 of 37 Kh-101 cruise missiles;
- 6 of 12 Kalibr cruise missiles;
- 4 of 4 Kh-59/Kh-69 guided air missiles;
- 64 Shahed strike drones, with 68 additional decoy drones lost to radar.
Six Iskander-K cruise missiles evaded interception. Ukrainian F-16 and Mirage fighter pilots played a key role, downing dozens of targets, the Air Force noted.
Consequences of the attack
Kyiv suffered the heaviest blow, with a residential building in the Sviatoshynskyi district destroyed, damaging an entire quarter. Nine people were killed, and 70 were injured, with 31 hospitalized, including five children. Rescue operations continue amid rubble searches.
Kharkiv endured 24 attacks—14 by drones and 10 by missiles—damaging apartment buildings, a polyclinic, a school, private homes, industrial sites, and a hotel complex, according to Mayor Ihor Terekhov. One person was hospitalized.
In Pavlohrad, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, the blast wave from the attack damaged windows and balconies in 14 apartment buildings, but no injuries were reported, said regional governor Serhiy Lysak.
Zhytomyr and Khmelnytskyi oblasts saw damage to a gas distribution point, two residential roofs, windows and doors in five apartments, and a park’s recreational area. Two people were injured.