Ukrainian air defense downs 38 out of 42 Russian drones in overnight attack

On the night of March 6, Russian forces once again attacked several regions of Ukraine with drones and guided anti-aircraft missiles. 

The air defense forces downed 38 drones, Rubryka reports, citing the Ukrainian Air Force.

Initially, the airmen reported the threat of "Shahed" drone attacks, first in the northeastern Kharkiv region and shortly after in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions.

By 00:04, the "Shahed" drones were heading toward the Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Kirovohrad, and Khmelnytskyi regions. Drones from the Black Sea were also heading toward the southern cities of Odesa and Yuzhne.

By the morning, the Air Force reported that the Russian forces had launched five guided  S-300 anti-aircraft missiles from the occupied territory of Donetsk region and 42 "Shahed" drones from four directions: Chauda and Balaklava in the occupied Crimea, Kursk Oblast in Russia, and the Russian city of Primorsko-Akhtarsk.

"A part of combat operations, 38 'Shahed' drones were shot down within the territory of Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa, Kherson, Khmelnytskyi, Cherkasy, Kharkiv, Vinnytsia, and Sumy regions," military officials said.

The air defense missile units of the Air Force, mobile fire groups of the Ukrainian Defense Forces, and electronic warfare were involved in repelling the aerial attack.

Recent drone attacks in Ukrainian regions

The Russian forces attacked the southern Odesa region with 22 drones on the night of March 5. The Ukrainian air defense downed 18 of them.

On the night of March 2, the Russian army again attacked Odesa with "Shahed" drones. However, one of the drones hit a 9-story residential building during maneuvers in the residential quarters of Odesa. Part of the entrance with 18 apartments was destroyed.

On March 3, rescuers in Odesa completed a search and rescue operation at the site of the drone strike on a multi-story building. 12 fatalities were reported, including five children, the youngest of whom was four months old.