Russian forces launch massive attack on Ukraine with cruise and ballistic missiles and drones

On the morning of January 15, Russian forces launched a major attack on Ukraine using cruise and ballistic missiles, preceded by drone deployments late on January 14.

The Air Force of Ukraine's armed forces reported this.

As the military wrote, at midnight, the Russian invaders launched an attack with drones. As of 12:58 a.m., due to the attack of the UAV, an air alert signal was in the Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Khmelnytskyi, Chernihiv, Sumy, Poltava, Kharkiv, Kirovohrad, and Dnipropetrovsk regions.

At about 6 a.m., the Air Force reported a missile threat. Tu-95MS bombers and the Kinzhal missile carrier, MiG-31 K, took off from the Olenya airfield.

After that, the military noted that cruise missiles had entered Ukrainian airspace and also warned of a ballistic threat to Kharkiv, where explosions were later heard.

Kharkiv

A series of explosions rocked the city around 6:08 a.m., with the military reporting detected cruise missiles in the area. Additionally, ballistic missiles were launched from the Belgorod region.

Within an hour of the morning alarm, enemy missiles had already been detected in the Kharkiv, Sumy, Kherson, Mykolaiv, and Kirovohrad regions.

Cherkasy region

Air defense work has been intensified on the outskirts of Cherkasy.

"Air defense is operating near Cherkasy and on the city's outskirts," Suspilne reported.

A few minutes earlier, the Air Force of Ukraine's armed forces called on the city's residents to take shelter as a Russian cruise missile was headed in their direction.

Ivano-Frankivsk region

"Cruise missiles in our airspace! Stay in shelters," the head of the Ivano-Frankivsk Regional Military Administration, Svitlana Onyshchuk, informed.

Mayor Ruslan Martsinkiv reported that Ivano-Frankivsk was not hit, and air defense systems were actively operating in the region.

Khmelnytskyi, Lviv and Vinnytsia regions

"The cruise missiles closest to us are recorded in the airspace of Khmelnytskyi region. They are moving west. You still have time to move to a safe place," the head of the Lviv Regional Military Administration, Maksym Kozytskyi, wrote on Telegram.

At 07:34 a.m., the media reported that explosions were heard in Khmelnytskyi and Vinnytsia regions.

Air defense was working in the Lviv region.

Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk regions

DTEK [the largest private investor in Ukraine's energy sector—ed.] informed that emergency power outages have been introduced in the Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk regions.

Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko reported that the transmission system operator is implementing preventive power outages across Ukraine in connection with the Russian attack.

Later, Ukrenergo [the transmission system operator of Ukraine—ed.] confirmed that emergency power outages were implemented in the Kharkiv, Sumy, Poltava, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk, and Kirovohrad regions due to the massive Russian attack.

In addition, due to the shelling of Ukraine, Poland announced an increase in combat readiness. The Operational Command of the Polish Armed Forces:

• put combat aircraft pairs on duty.
• brought ground-based air defense and radar reconnaissance systems to the highest level of readiness.

"In accordance with current procedures, the Operational Command of the Polish Air Force has deployed all available forces and means at its disposal, another pair of fighter jets have been launched, and ground-based air defense and radar reconnaissance assets have been put on the highest alert," the Operational Command of the Polish Armed Forces said in a statement.

For reference:

On Christmas Day, December 25, the Russian Federation launched over 70 missiles and 100 drones into Ukraine. Over 50 missiles and a significant part of the drones were shot down by the air defense forces.