Alexander Yermochenko/Reuters
An apartment building damaged by recent shelling in Makiivka, a suburb of Donetsk, Ukraine, under Russian rule.
Kyiv
CNN
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Russia launched another massive barrage of missiles and drones into Ukraine on Saturday. 4th attack Since December 29, amid concerns that Moscow is trying to overwhelm Ukraine’s air defenses.
According to the Ukrainian Air Force, the Russian attack consisted of 40 offensive weapons, including cruise missiles, airborne ballistic missiles, ballistic missiles, aircraft, anti-aircraft guided missiles and attack drones.
According to the Ukrainian Air Force, Ukraine successfully shot down eight missiles. They further stated that “extensive electronic warfare countermeasures prevented more than 20 launched air attack weapons from reaching their targets.”
Air raid warnings and air defense warnings were activated throughout the country. Several regions were affected, including: Chernihiv city Dnipro in northern and eastern Ukraine.
In Chernihiv, missile fragments damaged vacant civilian buildings in the city, police said.
“Fragments of an enemy missile destroyed a private residential area in Chernihiv. Fortunately, no one was injured,” police wrote on Telegram.
There were no civilian casualties, the local mayor said, as the area had been hit before.
The head of the Dnipropetrovsk region’s military administration, Serhiy Raisak, said the attack had entered the city.
“We are currently assessing the extent of the damage caused by the airstrike. However, people always come first. Fortunately, everyone is safe,” Lysak wrote on Telegram.
Saturday’s attack is the fourth largest since Russia launched a massive nationwide barrage on Dec. 29.
Analysts say the latest onslaught by Russian missiles is aimed at overloading Ukraine’s limited missile defenses.
In the previous attack on January 7, Ukraine shot down only 18 of the 59 missiles it fired.
The Russian military has also adopted new tactics as part of air operations, including painting Iranian drones black to camouflage them in the night sky.
Another tactic, one Ukrainian unit told CNN, is to move some drones’ engine exhausts from the back to the front in order to use thermal sights to confuse anti-aircraft batteries.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Friday at a press conference with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak that the country is far from comprehensive air defense.
“We lack a Patriot system, and we lack a good system of varying scope. It’s coming little by little. Something is afoot. We’ve agreed to something new. But we still lack a suitable system, especially to counter ballistic missiles,” Zelenskiy said.
Ukraine relies on mobile fire units for air defense to shoot down drones as its inventory of anti-aircraft missiles runs low.
“They are now the backbone for destroying enemy drones.” After last week’s volley of 29 Shahid drones across Iran, Air Force Spokesman Yury Inat said We are counting on them to help our country save guided anti-aircraft missiles, which are in critical need under heavy attack.