Ukraine’s air defenses counter massive Russian strike, down 80 Shahed drones

Russian forces carried out a combined strike using various types of air-, land-, and sea-launched missiles targeting critical infrastructure in  Kharkiv Oblast. The missile attack included:

• Cruise Missiles: Kh-101/Kh-55SM launched from Volgograd Oblast
• Kalibr/Iskander-K Missiles: Fired from the Black Sea\occupied Crimea
• Ballistic Missiles: Iskander-M/KN-23 launched from Voronezh Oblast.

The Air Force noted that details regarding the effectiveness of Ukrainian defenses and the consequences of the missile strikes remain classified.

Drone swarm

In addition to missile strikes, Russian forces launched 161 attack drones, including Shahed UAVs and decoy drones from multiple directions, including Millerovo, Oryol, Bryansk, Kursk, and Primorsko-Akhtarsk.

Ukraine’s defense forces, including aviation, anti-aircraft missile units, electronic warfare (EW) systems, and mobile fire groups, repelled the large-scale attack.

Ukraine’s air defenses successfully intercepted 80 drones over the following oblasts:

• Kharkiv
• Poltava
• Sumy
• Kyiv
• Cherkasy
• Chernihiv
• Kirovohrad
• Dnipropetrovsk
• Kherson
• Mykolaiv
• Odesa.

At the same time, 78 Russian decoy drones were lost or failed to hit their targets.

Casualties and damage across Ukraine

As a result of the Russian attack, multiple oblasts suffered infrastructure damage and civilian casualties:

• Kharkiv, Sumy, Odesa, and Kyiv oblasts sustained damage from drone and missile strikes.
• In Kherson, a guided aerial bomb partially destroyed an apartment building, with casualties reported. Rescue operations are ongoing.
• Odesa's energy infrastructure was targeted for the second consecutive night.
• In Mykolaiv, a Russian strike on a thermal power plant caused a major power grid failure.

Earlier, DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private energy company, confirmed that Russian forces intentionally targeted an energy facility in Odesa Oblast for the second night in a row. Meanwhile, the attack on Mykolaiv’s thermal power plant triggered a blackout, impacting critical infrastructure.