Ukrainian air defenses shoot down 21 out of 49 Shahed drones overnight

Overnight into Sunday, December 31, Russian troops attacked Ukraine with 49 Iranian-made Shahed-136/131 drones from three directions, with 21 UAVs shot down by Ukrainian air defenses.

The Ukrainian Air Force said this in a post on Telegram, Ukrinform reports.

According to the post, the occupiers attacked Ukraine with strike drones from three directions: Cape Chauda (temporarily occupied Crimea), Primorsko-Akhtarsk area and Kursk region (Russia).

"A total of 49 enemy Shahed-136/131 drones were recorded. The enemy also struck the city of Kharkiv with six S-300 anti-aircraft guided missiles," the Ukrainian Air Force said.

According to the Ukrainian military, most of the attack drones were directed at the front line of defense, as well as at civilian and military infrastructure in front-line areas, including in the Kharkiv, Kherson, Mykolaiv and Zaporizhzhia regions.

"In different regions of Ukraine, units of mobile fire groups of the defense forces, fighter aircraft and anti-aircraft missile units of the Air Force destroyed 21 enemy Shaheds," the post said.