Russia shifted tactics, scale of attacks on Ukraine sharply increased - Air Force spokesman
Photo: Yurii Ihnat (GettyImages)
The Russian army continues to launch massive strikes on Ukraine’s critical infrastructure, increasingly using ballistic missiles, according to the Head of the Communications Department of the Air Force Command, Yurii Ihnat.
Ihnat stated that during the night, energy and gas infrastructure facilities in several regions came under attack.
"Unfortunately, this is another terrorist attack on our cities. The targets were the energy and gas industries. The enemy wants to leave us without electricity and heat," Ihnat emphasized.
The main directions of the Russian strike were Dnipropetrovsk, Kyiv, and Poltava regions, although other regions also sustained damage. Ihnat highlighted that a distinctive feature of this attack was the massive use of ballistic and aeroballistic missiles.
"Twenty-five Iskander-M or KN-23 and seven Kinzhals were launched. That makes 32 of the 45 missiles that followed a ballistic trajectory," the spokesman explained.
He noted that this year, Russia has significantly increased the share of ballistic launches compared to cruise missiles, focusing on their speed and the difficulty of interception.
In addition, the enemy used cruise missiles — both sea- and ground-launched — and massively deployed strike drones.
“In total, there were more than 450 kamikaze drones, as the president has already reported,” Ihnat added.
Attack on Ukraine
During the night of November 8, 2025, Russia carried out yet another large-scale combined strike on Ukrainian territory, simultaneously using various types of missiles and strike drones. The main target of the attack once again was energy infrastructure.
As a result of the massive shelling, several regions experienced emergency power outages and disruptions in the operation of critical facilities. The city of Kremenchuk suffered the most destruction and was temporarily left completely without electricity. Due to damage to the power grid, Ukrzaliznytsia reported train delays.
According to Ukrainian military data, throughout the night, Russia launched 503 aerial attack assets against Ukraine, including:
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458 strike drones of the Shahed and Geran types;
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25 ballistic missiles Iskander-M/KN-23;
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10 cruise missiles Iskander-K;
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7 aeroballistic missiles Kh-47M2 Kinzhal;
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3 cruise missiles Kalibr.
As of 10:00 a.m. local time, 415 aerial targets had been shot down or suppressed by Ukrainian air defense forces.
The Russian army attacked throughout the entire night, using both drones and missiles. All details of the combined attack – read in the RBC-Ukraine report.
