Ukraine’s air defense units intercept 87 Shahed drones on New Year’s night

On the night of January 1, 2024, Ukrainian sky defenders destroyed 87 enemy Shahed-type combat drones.

The relevant statement was made by Commander of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Lieutenant General Mykola Oleshchuk on Telegram, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

“A year ago, on the New Year’s night, the sky defenders destroyed 45 Shahed drones. Today – 87,” Oleshchuk wrote.

Ukraine’s Air Force reported on Telegram that the enemy had launched a record-breaking number of Shahed-type loitering munitions.

Russian drones came in waves from four directions: the temporarily occupied Crimea’s Chauda Cape and Balaklava; Russia’s Kursk and Primorsko-Akhtarsk.

A total of 90 enemy Shahed-136/131 drones were launched.

Additionally, Russians fired four S-300 missiles at the Kharkiv region, as well as three Kh-31P anti-radiation missiles and one Kh-59 missile from the temporarily occupied areas of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.

Air raid sirens triggered across most of Ukrainian regions. Ukraine’s air defense units worked literally all over the country. Mobile fire groups of the Defense Forces, fighter aircraft and surface-to-air missile units of the Air Force combined efforts to repel the enemy air attack.