Ukraine downs 15/35 Russia’s explosive drones overnight

Ukraine's air defense forces successfully downed 15 of 35 Russo-Iranian suicide drones during the night of January 29-30, as reported by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on its Facebook page.

Russia has been conducting the Shahed drone attacks against Ukraine almost every night, with number of explosive drone ranging from just a few to several dozen. The attacks don't cause significant damage as Ukraine's air defenses routinely down most of the suicide drones, but at the same time such attacks trigger hours-long air raid alerts in the affected regions.

"At night, the Russian invaders attacked Ukraine with 35 Shahed-136/131 attack UAVs. Air defense forces and means destroyed 15 enemy drones," the General Staff wrote.

Ukraine's Air Force says that overnight into 30 January, Russian forces launched the Shaheds from three directions - Russia's Primorsko-Akhtarsk (southeast of Ukraine), Kursk (north of Ukraine), and occupied Crimea's Cape Chauda in the south. Additionally, the Russians launched two S-300 anti-aircraft guided missiles in their secondary ground-attack role in Donetsk Oblast.

The Air Force says 15 Shahed UAVs were destroyed in Mykolaiv, Sumy, Cherkasy, Kirovohrad, Dnipro, Kharkiv, Kherson, and Kyiv oblasts.

"The enemy sent some of the attack UAVs to the frontline areas, trying to hit the infrastructure of the fuel and energy sector, civilian and military facilities near the front line and the state border with Russia," the Air Force wrote.

A fire broke out at an enterprise in Kyiv Oblast as drone debris crashed, damaging and administrative building, a car, and a hangar, according to regional authorities. Cherkasty and Dnipro regional authorities also reported insignificant damage from the Russian drone attack. Another drone hit an abandoned building in Cherkasy Oblast. A Shahed drone hit the civilian infrastructure facility in Kryvyi Rih, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.

The local authorities reported that no one was injured by the Russian air assault in the three abovementioned regions.

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