Russia fired over 180 missiles and drones at Ukraine: Air defense works
Photo: Air defense shots down 113 out of 184 missiles and drones during the massive Russian shelling of Ukraine on December 25 (Getty Images)
Russia launched 184 missiles and drones into Ukraine on the night of December 25, Christmas Day. Most of them were shot down by air defense, RBC-Ukraine reports, referring to the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and Serhii Lysak, Head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Military Administration.
Thus, on the night of December 25, the Russian forces carried out a combined strike on the facilities of the fuel and energy sector of Ukraine with missiles of various types of air, ground, and sea-based, as well as strike UAVs of the Shahed type and other types of imitator drones.
"In total, the radio-technical troops of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine detected and accompanied 184 enemy air targets," the report of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine states.
The air targets included:
- 2 KN-23 ballistic missiles (launch area - Voronezh region);
- 10 S-300/S-400 anti-aircraft guided missiles (launch area - Belgorod region);
- 12 Kalibr cruise missiles (from the Black Sea);
- 50 Kh-101/Kh-55 cruise missiles from Tu-95ms strategic bombers (launch area - Volgograd region, Caspian Sea);
- 4 Kh-59/Kh-69 guided aircraft missiles from tactical aircraft (launch area - Belgorod region);
- 106 Shahed attack UAVs/imitator drones of various types (from the Bryansk, Millerovo, Oryol, and Primorsko-Akhtarsk regions).
How air defense worked
Anti-aircraft missile units, electronic warfare, and mobile fire groups of Ukraine's Air Force and Defense Forces were involved in repelling the enemy's air attack.
According to preliminary data, as of 12:00 a.m. Kyiv time, 113 air targets were confirmed to have been shot down:
- 55 Kh-101, Kh-55cm, Caliber cruise missiles;
- 4 Kh-59/Kh-69 guided aircraft missiles;
- 54 Shahed strike UAVs/imitator drones of various types, another 52 did not reach their targets (lost locally).
Consequences of Russian attack
The enemy attacked Ukrainian energy facilities in the Kharkiv, Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava, Zhytomyr, Ivano-Frankivsk and Zaporizhzhia regions. In particular, over the Dnipropetrovsk region alone, the air defense shot down 42 missiles.
"The defenders of the sky shot down 42 missiles today over the Dnipropetrovsk region. Most of those were directed by the enemy at the region. This is a powerful result," the Head of the Regional Administration noted.
Furthermore, Russia massively attacked Kharkiv with ballistics, launching 12 missiles at the city. Currently, a significant part of the city is without heating. In addition, the city of Kalush, in the Ivano-Frankivsk region, was left without heat and water on December 25.
In Dnipro, "serious problems" arose after massive shelling. Read more about the consequences of the shelling in our material on the topic.
