Ukraine downs 51 Russian drones, another 30 fail to hit targets

The Defense Forces have shot down 51 Shahed kamikaze drones Russia had launched to attack Ukraine since the evening of December 17, and 30 killer drone decoys have disappeared from radar.

The Air Force reported this on Telegram, Ukrinform saw.

It is noted that since 19:00 on Tuesday, December 17, Russia has launched at Ukraine a total of 81 drones from Bryansk region, Kursk region, Millerovo, and Orel regions.

The air attack was being repelled by Ukraine’s aviation, air defense and electronic warfare units, as well as mobile fire groups.

As of 09:00 on Wednesday, December 18, it was confirmed that 51 Shahed attack drones and other types of UAVs were shot down over Poltava, Sumy, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Khmelnytskyi, Cherkasy, Kirovohrad, Dnipropetrovsk, and Zaporizhia regions.

As a result of “active countermeasures” (e-warfare), 30 kamikaze drone decoys failed to reach their targets with no destruction reported on the ground.

"No hits have been recorded, no reports on damage or casualties have been received," the Air Force noted.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, the previous night, Ukraine’s Defense Forces shot down 20 enemy drones, and another 10 disappeared from radar.