The Russian military launched the largest drone attack of the year so far overnight, and one of the largest since the start of the full-scale war over two and a half years ago, the Ukrainian Air Force (UAF) said on Wednesday morning.
Ukrainian air defence systems intercepted all 89 drones launched by Russia overnight, the UAF added. The majority of the Iranian-produced Shahed attack drones were launched at the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and the surrounding region, the UAF said, adding that a missile launched from Russian-occupied territory in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region had also been shot down.
The authorities in Kyiv reported that the city’s air defences downed over 40 Russian drones overnight in two waves of attacks in the early hours of Wednesday morning, adding that there had been no casualties as local air defence systems “performed excellently” in the face of a “dense, massive attack”.
The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces also said on Wednesday morning that the country’s navy had damaged a military storage facility in Russia’s western Kursk region as Ukraine’s defence forces continued to “effectively strike important military targets of the Russian occupiers”.
Acting Kursk Governor Alexey Smirnov had reported on Telegram that a fire had broken out at a “facility” near the regional capital Kursk following a Ukrainian attack.
In its daily report, Russia’s Defence Ministry said it had downed a guided missile and drone over the Kursk region overnight, as well as 11 drones over the neighbouring Belgorod region, four over the Kursk region, and one each over the Kursk, Kaluga, and Rostov regions, as well as one over annexed Crimea.