Record number of Russian drones attack Ukraine on New Year’s night: air defense downs 87 drones

On the night of January 1, Russians launched a record-breaking number of Shahed drones to attack Ukraine.

87 of them were successfully intercepted and destroyed, Rubryka reports, citing the Commander of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Mykola Oleshchuk, and the Southern Defense Forces.

"On New Year's night of 2024, the enemy deployed a record number of Shahed drones. The attack came in waves from four directions: Cape Chauda, Balaklava – Crimea, Kursk, and Primorsko-Akhtarsk – Russia," said the statement.

A total of 90 Shahed-136/131 drones were launched, accompanied by Russian forces striking:

• Four Zenit guided missiles at the Kharkiv region.
• Three anti-radiolocation missiles, one Kh-31P and one Kh-59, are from the occupied Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.

Air raid alarms were declared in most regions of Ukraine along the drone flight routes. Effectively, anti-air defense systems were active in all regions. Mobile defense groups of the Ukrainian Defense Forces, fighter aircraft, and anti-aircraft missile units of the Air Force successfully repelled the aerial attack.

"In the New Year's night, the defenders of the sky managed to destroy a record number of enemy attack drones – 87 out of 90 Shahed-136/131," said the statement.

The Southern Defense Forces specified that the powerful drone attack lasted for a duration of 11 hours.

In Ukraine's south, 51 Shahed drones were neutralized: 28 in the Odesa region, 14 in the Mykolaiv region, five in the Vinnytsia region, two in the Dnipropetrovsk region, and one each in Kherson and Kirovohrad regions.

"Thanks to everyone for their combat work! A year ago, on New Year's night, the sky defenders destroyed 45 Shahed drones. Today – 87! Let's hold the sky! Together – to victory!" said Mykola Oleshchuk, the Air Force Commander.