Ukrainian air defense shoots down over 100 Russian drones launched overnight
Illustrative photo: Russia launched 176 drones over Ukraine on February 18 (Getty Images)
During the night of Tuesday, February 18, the Russian army launched 176 Shahed strike drones at Ukrainian territory. Air defense forces worked in 12 regions, the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reports.
Between 7:00 p.m. Kyi time on February 17 and the early hours of February 18, 2025, the enemy launched 176 attack drones of the Shahed type, along with various decoy drones.
Russian troops launched the drones from seven locations:
- Oryol
- Bryansk
- Kursk
- Millerovo
- Shatalovo
- Primorsko-Akhtarsk
- Occupied Crimea
As of 9:00 a.m., Ukrainian forces confirmed 103 Shahed drones and other UAVs being shot down in the following regions:
- Kharkiv
- Poltava
- Sumy
- Chernihiv
- Cherkasy
- Kyiv
- Kirovohrad
- Vinnytsia
- Zhytomyr
- Dnipropetrovsk
- Kherson
- Mykolaiv
Furthermore, 67 enemy decoy drones were lost locally, causing no harm.
However, as a result of the attack, the Kirovohrad, Kharkiv, Kyiv, and Cherkasy regions sustained damage.
Night drone attack
On the evening of Monday, February 17, multiple air raid alerts were issued across Ukraine due to the threat of a massive drone attack. An air raid alarm was also declared in Kyiv, followed by reports of air defense operations in the northern part of the city.
According to local authorities, drone debris was recorded falling in Kyiv’s Sviatoshynskyi district. Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported that a fire broke out at an industrial facility, and cars in a residential courtyard nearby also caught fire. However, there were no casualties, as the drone debris landed in a non-residential area, igniting a warehouse fire.
Meanwhile, in the city of Dolynska, the Kirovohrad region, a Russian drone hit a multi-story building. Three people were injured, including children.
