Ukraine’s air defense downs 28 Russian air targets overnight

Russia launched an assault on Ukraine on the evening of August 20, utilizing a combination of missiles and kamikaze drones. Ukrainian air defense successfully intercepted and destroyed one Iskander-K cruise missile, two Kh–59 guided air missiles, and 25 Shahed–131/136 attack drones.

The commander of the Air Force of Ukraine's armed forces, Mykola Oleshchuk, reported that on Telegram.

He said that on the night of August 20, the Russians launched two Iskander-M/KN-23 ballistic missiles from the Voronezh region, a cruise missile from the Bryansk region, and guided air missiles from the Kursk and Zaporizhzhia regions. Additionally, they sent attack UAVs from various regions of the Russian Federation.

A total of 30 enemy targets were detected:

• 2 Iskander-M/KN-23 missiles;
• 1 Iskander-K missile;
• Kh-59 missile;
• 26 Shahed drones.

Air defense forces destroyed 28 air targets.

In particular, it referes to one Iskander-K cruise missile; two Kh-59 guided air missiles, and 25 Shahed-131/136 attack UAVs within the Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Mykolaiv, Kherson, Vinnytsia, Khmelnytskyi, Kirovohrad, Sumy, and Chernihiv regions.

^{Photo: Telegram / Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk}

For reference:

Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion in February 2022, the Russian Federation has systematically bombarded the territory of Ukraine using attack drones, cruise and ballistic missiles. Border settlements suffer from guided aerial bombs and artillery.

On the morning of August 20, an air raid alert was issued in several regions of Ukraine, warning about potential ballistic threats.

Specifically, Russia launched an attack on Kyiv using attack drones and also fired cruise missiles like the Iskander-K in the morning. The air defense forces were able to destroy all of their targets successfully.

Explosions were also heard in the Khmelnytskyi region. Enemy drones were spotted over the region. During the alarm, a fire broke out in Ternopil.

It should be pointed out that during the night of August 18–19, the Russian invaders launched another attack on Ukraine using the Shahed model UAV. However, the air defense forces were able to successfully shoot down all 11 drones.

Additionally, on the night of August 18, Russian occupation forces simultaneously attacked Ukraine with a mix of 16 aerial weapons. The Air Defense Forces successfully took down 13 of these targets, including 2 ballistic missiles, 3 cruise missiles, and 8 attack drones.