Ukrainian air defence downs Iskander ballistic missile and 52 drones: strikes recorded at 5 locations
Russian forces attacked Ukraine with two Iskander-M ballistic missiles and 60 attack drones on the night of 29-30 December.
Source: Air Force of Ukraine; Colonel Yurii Ihnat, Head of the Communications Department of the Air Force Command
Quote from Air Force: "On the night of 29-30 December (from 18:00 on 29 December), the enemy launched two Iskander-M ballistic missiles from temporarily occupied Crimea and from Russia's Voronezh Oblast, as well as 60 attack UAVs of the Shahed, Gerbera and other types from the Russian cities of Oryol, Bryansk, Kursk and Primorsko-Akhtarsk in the Russian Federation, and Hvardiiske and Chauda in temporarily occupied Crimea. About 40 of them were Shahed attack drones.
The air attack was repelled by aircraft, anti-aircraft missile units, electronic warfare and unmanned systems units and mobile fire groups of Ukraine's defence forces."
Details: Early reports indicate that as of 09:00 Ukraine's air defence had shot down or suppressed one ballistic missile and 52 Russian UAVs of the Shahed, Gerbera and other types over Ukraine's north, south and east.
Strikes by one ballistic missile and eight attack drones were recorded at five locations.
Colonel Ihnat added that for three consecutive nights Russia has been using a relatively smaller number of drones, although air raids and air defence operations have not ceased.
He said that this time Russia launched around 60 UAVs, with even fewer used over the previous two nights. In the meantime, he recalled that earlier, at intervals of several days, Russian forces carried out two large-scale combined strikes on facilities, with the capital suffering particularly heavily.
Commenting on the latest attack, Ihnat noted that Russia had launched two ballistic missiles from temporarily occupied Crimea and from Voronezh Oblast. One of them, according to his information, was intercepted by Ukrainian air defence.
Quote from Ihnat: "Thus, today [30 December – ed.] we have 52 downed drones and one ballistic missile. This is a high level of effectiveness for air defence.
The fight for Ukraine's skies continues every night: air defence forces are trying to intercept targets as far away from cities as possible, on the approaches, as was the case last night. Crewed aircraft were operating, and interceptor drones were also actively used when weather conditions allowed. This innovative method of shooting down drones is being employed as an additional element of air defence."
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