Ukraine’s Air Force says Russia attacked the country with 24 Shahed-136/131 suicide drones in the early hours of 2 February. The air assault originated in the south, with the Shaheds launched from Cape Chauda in occupied Crimea and Russia’s Primorsko-Akhtarsk, targeting critical infrastructure facilities in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, in particular.
Russia conducts explosive drone attacks against Ukrainian cities almost every night, primarily targeting civilian infrastructure. In most cases, Ukraine’s air defenders destroy the majority of the drones.
“In total, the Air Force, in cooperation with the air defense of the Ukrainian Defence Forces, destroyed 11 enemy UAVs in the Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson, Kirovohrad, and Kharkiv oblasts. In addition, at least seven attack drones failed to reach their targets and were lost in the area,” the Air Force reported, implying that six Shaheds hit their targets.
Dnipro region under attack
Dnipropetrovsk Oblast chief Serhii Lysak reported that the Russian attack targeted the Kryvyi Rih district with the Shaheds. According to him, air defenders from the Air Command East destroyed three drones.
He says other drones hit their targets, causing power outages for more than 40,000 people and two mines, trapping more than 100 miners underground. Some of the miners were rescued at the moment of the publication of Lysak’s report at 8:00 a.m.
Lysak also added that on 1 February, Russia hit the region’s Nikopol district with artillery, targeting Marhanets and the Myrove community. No one was killed or injured in the shelling.
The official also updated that a 37-year-old man sustained shrapnel wounds and a fracture as a result of the attack on the Pokrovske community on 1 February. The victim was hospitalized in moderate condition.
Later, Oleksandr Vilkul, the head of the Kryvyi Rih Defence Council, reported that all 113 miners trapped underground due to the blackout caused by the Russian Shahed attack were successfully brought to the surface.
Other central and southern oblasts targeted
The Ukraine South Defense Forces (USDF) reported that the Russians again “terrorized the southern and central regions of Ukraine with kamikaze drones of the Shahed-131/136 type” last night, with the air attack lasting about six hours.
The USDF says five of the Shaheds were shot down in its area of responsibility, with one of them in Kirovohrad Oblast and two more in Kherson Oblast.
“Unfortunately, the enemy managed to hit an infrastructure facility in Kirovohrad region. There were no casualties,” the Forces wrote.
The Kirovohrad Oblast authorities reported the “massive” Shahed attack on the region and neighboring oblasts at around 4 a.m., noting that air defenses were active in the regional capital of Kropyvnytskyi and the Kropyvnytskyi district. According to the reports, no one was hurt.
The Kherson Oblast Military administration says that over 24 hours, Russian attacks killed two and injured six civilians in the region, not attributing the casualties particularly to the Shahed assault. According to the report, Russia carried out 279 attacks in the region between 6 a.m. on 1 February and 6 a.m. on 2 February, firing 1,606 munitions with artillery guns, mortars, multiple rocket launchers, UAVs, and aircraft. The attacks targeted residential areas in Kherson Oblast, with 26 shells hitting Kherson City.
Oleh Syniehubov, Head of northeastern Ukraine’s Kharkiv Oblast, reported that around 2:30 a.m., a strike of a Russian UAV was recorded in the Izium district, causing no casualties. The regional leader, however, did not specify if it was a Shahed-series drone.
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