Ukraine’s Air Force reported that Russian forces launched a large-scale drone attack overnight on 14 January 2025, deploying 80 Shahed-type attack drones and various decoy unmanned aerial vehicles from Millerovo, Oryol, Kursk, and Primorsko-Akhtarsk in Russia.
According to the Air Force, the attack started at 18:30 on 13 January. Ukrainian air defense forces, including aviation, anti-aircraft missile units, electronic warfare teams, and mobile fire groups from both Air Force and Defense Forces, reportedly intercepted 58 attack drones across eleven oblasts: Poltava, Sumy, Kharkiv, Cherkasy, Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Kirovohrad, Dnipropetrovsk, Mykolaiv, Odesa, and Kherson.
Additionally, 21 decoy drones lost radar contact without any negative consequences, according to the report. The Air Force’s data suggests that at least one drone might have reached its target.
Regional impact
“The downed enemy drones caused damage in Sumy, Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Kharkiv, and Cherkasy oblasts. Detached homes, apartment buildings, vehicles, and citizens’ property were damaged. Preliminary reports indicate no casualties, and assistance is being provided to those affected,” the Air Force noted.
In Zhytomyr oblast, head of Oblast Military Administration Vitaliy Bunechko reported that drone debris damaged a gas station’s building, fuel dispensers, and vehicles, with one person sustaining shrapnel wounds to their limbs and requiring surgery.
In Cherkasy oblast, according to Oblast Military Administration head Ihor Taburets, air defenses destroyed 12 Russian drones. Debris damaged five windows of several commercial businesses in Cherkasy district, with no casualties reported.
Sumy oblast Military Administration reported intercepting 14 Russian Shahed drones overnight. The administration noted that since the beginning of 2025, regional air defense units have destroyed 123 Russian drones.
Additionally, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine reports that late on 13 January, Russian aviation struck an infrastructure facility in Sumy city, damaging administrative and warehouse buildings, causing no casualties. The blast wave shattered windows in a nearby two-story residential building. While the report does not specify the weapons used, similar attacks are typically attributed to Russian gliding bomb strikes.
Related:
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