Ukraine has managed to shoot down all cruise missiles launched by Russia during another massive strike, according to Yurii Ihnat, head of communications for the Ukrainian Air Force, speaking on the national TV marathon.
Nearly 500 targets in the sky: Zircons, hundreds of drones
Mykola Kalashnyk, the head of the Kyiv Regional Military Administration, reported that four people were killed in the attack and 15 others were injured, three of them seriously.
According to the Ukrainian Air Forces, Russia used about 500 aerial attack assets, including ballistic missiles such as Iskander-M and two 3M22 Zircon missiles.
Ballistic targets were intercepted with MIM-104 Patriot systems, allowing Ukrainian defenders to shoot down most of them. At the same time, Ukrainian air defense achieved a rare result — 100% interception of cruise missiles, including Kh-101 and Kalibr.
F-16 pilots, air defense crews, and interceptor drones repel one of Russia’s largest strikes
“First of all, this is the achievement of the pilots,” Ihnat said, highlighting the work of F-16 Fighting Falcon pilots and other aviators who shot down most of the cruise missiles.
Air defense crews from the 96th Kyiv Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade also played a key role in intercepting incoming missiles.
Interceptor drone crews and anti-aircraft drones also demonstrated significant results, destroying a large share of the attacking UAVs.
Army aviation helicopters and mobile fire groups also played a role in repelling the attack, accounting for dozens of destroyed targets.
Earlier, Ukrainian defense company BlueBird Tech developed a new close-range counter-drone device designed to stop incoming FPV attack drones.
The system, called the “Chipa” net gun, fires a square net that expands in flight and snags a drone’s propellers, causing it to lose lift and crash. The device is intended to intercept drones at distances of up to about 25 meters.
