(Kyiv) Russian forces attacked Ukraine overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday with more than a dozen drones and a cruise missile launched by Russia, the Ukrainian Air Force said Wednesday, claiming to have shot down all the drones.
Ukraine has prepared for an increase in Russian attacks on its critical infrastructure, particularly its energy facilities, as subzero temperatures begin to set in, as in the previous winter.
The air force said the shots were launched from southeastern Russia and that a combination of different air defense units in several central regions “destroyed the 14 Shahed-131/136 drones of the enemy.” These are Iranian-made devices frequently used by Moscow against its neighbor.
“The X-22 cruise missile did not reach its target and landed in the Zaporizhia region in an open area, and the shock wave damaged private homes. There were no casualties,” the Air Force added in a statement.
Authorities in the southern city of Odessa also said air defenses had shot down a “rare” Iranian-made Mohajer-6 drone over the Black Sea the day before.
In 2022, the Russians had purchased around thirty drones of this type, Ukrainian authorities indicated.
Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure last winter left thousands of people in the cold and darkness for extended periods, and Kyiv has since received more air defense systems from its allies.
Russia says it has neutralized naval and aerial drones in the Black Sea and Crimea
Russia claimed on Wednesday to have neutralized four Ukrainian naval drones in the Black Sea which were heading towards Crimea and destroyed three aerial drones above this annexed peninsula.
“Four unmanned launches of the Ukrainian army, which were heading towards the Crimean Peninsula, were detected in the western part of the Black Sea,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.
“All targets detected have been destroyed,” according to the same source.
In addition, three Ukrainian aerial drones were destroyed on Wednesday by Russian air defense systems over Crimea, the ministry said in a separate statement, denouncing a “terrorist attack by the Kyiv regime”.
Attacks using naval or aerial drones are common off Ukraine and have intensified since the launch of Kyiv’s counter-offensive this summer.
At the beginning of September, Moscow claimed to have foiled an attack of this type which targeted the bridge which connects Russia to Crimea, a peninsula annexed in 2014 and constantly targeted by Ukrainian strikes.
This structure has been damaged twice since the start of the Russian offensive in 2022.