Russian forces launched a combined drone and missile attack on Ukraine overnight on 22-23 January. Zaporizhzhia City suffered the heaviest strikes, with missiles targeting the drone attack location hours after the drone strike. The attack killed a 47-year-old Zaporizhzhia man. A two month-old boy is among 46 injured in the city, according to local authorities.
Ukraine’s Air Force reported that the Russians launched 92 Shahed-type strike drones and various decoy drones from multiple locations in Russia – Millerovo, Orel, Kursk, Bryansk, and Primorsko-Akhtarsk. Additionally, the Russian forces fired four Iskander-M/KN-23 ballistic missiles from Voronezh Oblast at Zaporizhzhia.
By 09:30, Ukraine’s air defenses shot down 57 drones across eight regions – Poltava, Sumy, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Mykolaiv, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, and Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. Another 27 enemy decoy drones disappeared from radars without causing damage, while operations continued against three drones still airborne, according to the Air Force.
Zaporizhzhia attack
According to Zaporizhzhia Oblast Military Administration head Ivan Fedorov, Russian forces began their assault at 21:55 on 22 January when explosions were heard in Zaporizhzhia city. The initial wave involved Shahed drones, with six striking an energy facility and one hitting an industrial site.
In a deliberate “double-tap” strategy, Russian forces launched four ballistic missiles at the same location several hours after emergency services began responding to the drone strikes. Fedorov reported that the missiles reached Zaporizhzhia just three and a half minutes after air raid alerts were activated.
“Unfortunately, the enemy hit many residential buildings. One is almost destroyed,” Fedorov said.
The attacks killed a 47-year-old man and injured 46 civilians, including a two-month-old boy, Zaporizhzhia police and Fedorov reported. Four emergency service workers were among the wounded and were hospitalized while responding to the initial drone attack.
Among those injured were four emergency services workers and a two-month-old boy.
According to Fedorov, infrastructure damage:
- One apartment building destroyed
- Thirty apartment buildings damaged
- Multiple detached houses damaged
- Shahed drones destroyed an energy facility, leaving over 20,000 subscribers without electricity and 17,000 people without heating
- Non-residential buildings damaged in Shevchenkivskyi and Oleksandrivskyi districts
Fedorov reported that over 24 hours in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Russian forces conducted:
- 4 missile strikes on Zaporizhzhia
- 4 airstrikes on Temyrivka
- 188 drone attacks on eight settlements including Zaporizhzhia, Kamianske, Huliaipole, which included the “drones of various modifications,” which implies not only the Shaheds, but everything up to small FPV drones
- 4 multiple-rocket-launcher attacks on Novodanilivka and Mala Tokmachka
- 161 artillery strikes on eight settlements
Related:
- No Russian drone hits target as Ukraine neutralizes 131 UAVs
- Number of injured due to Russian attack on Zaporizhzhia increases to 10 people
- Russian drone attack injures boy, 12, in Kyiv Oblast, damages Izmail river port, hits Romania
- Starmer vows UK’s “full part” in potential Ukraine peacekeeping
- All but one of 80 Russian drones intercepted in night attack that caused one civilian injury
- Ukraine neutralizes all 93 Russian drones in nighttime attack, Air Force says
- Russia forces more Ukrainian men into military service amid expanded conscription drive
