Overnight on 19 May 2024, Russia launched its aerial drone attack against Ukraine just before midnight, and it wasn’t until 6:40 a.m. that the Ukrainian Air Force, overseeing the country’s air defenses, declared the final all-clear from the enemy drone threat.
According to the Air Force of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, for the attack, Russian forces launched an 37 Shahed-131/136 type drones, originating from Russia’s Primorsko-Akhtarsk in Krasnodar Krai, and from Kursk Oblast. The Ukrainian Air Force’s air defense missile units, alongside mobile fire teams and electronic warfare units, responded to this aerial aggression.
In the ensuing air battle, all 37 drones were successfully intercepted and destroyed across several Ukrainian oblasts, including Kyiv, Odesa, Mykolaiv, Sumy, Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr, Cherkasy, and Kherson, the Air Force says.
In the morning, Henadiy Trukhanov, the mayor of Odesa, said that at least one of the drones was shot down in the skies of Odesa:
“Air defense forces destroyed an enemy drone over Odesa. According to preliminary information, there were no casualties,” he wrote.
Read also:
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- Russia’s Shahed explosive drones hit community center in south as Ukraine downs 17/20 Shaheds
- Ukraine’s National Resistance Center: Russian teens to manufacture 10,000 Shahed drones annually
