The Russians massively attacked Ukraine on New Year’s Eve: how the air defense worked

Russian troops launched a massive drone attack on Ukraine on the night of December 31 to January 1. Lutsk, Odesa, and Sumy were among the targets. Air defense forces managed to shoot down most of the enemy drones.

This is reported by local authorities.

Drones were recorded in Chernihiv, Kyiv, Sumy, Zhytomyr, Rivne, Volyn, Odesa, Kharkiv, and Donetsk regions.

Russian military forces attacked the Volyn region with drones throughout the night, focusing fire on energy infrastructure facilities.

The head of the Volyn regional military administration, Ivan Rudnytskyi, reported that over one hundred thousand subscribers were left without electricity due to enemy strikes. Although air defense units were able to shoot down some of the targets, the recorded flights led to fires in several areas.

“The region was under massive attack by Shahed UAVs all night long. In total, several dozen enemy targets again attacked critical infrastructure facilities in Volyn,” Rudnytskyi noted.

According to local authorities, fires broke out in Lutsk and Kovel districts. Rescue services are working to eliminate the damage. The Volynyeblenergo company confirmed the scale of the outages, which affected more than one hundred thousand households. Despite the intensity of the shelling, the administration did not receive any information about the deaths or injuries among the local population.

The first explosions in Lutsk occurred at approximately 01:04. Before that, the city’s mayor, Ihor Polishchuk, warned that a “Shahed” was flying over the city. Later, 30 and 40 minutes later, repeated explosions were heard in Lutsk. At the same time, the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine called on the city’s residents to take shelter. According to the mayor and the military, drones were flying over the city again.

At 01:56 Polishchuk wrote that instead of holiday lights, a fire broke out in Lutsk due to an attack by the Russian Federation. He also showed footage of the fire.

In addition, explosions were heard in Odessa late in the evening, December 31, at 11:28 p.m. Half an hour later, the head of the Odessa Regional State Administration, Oleg Kiper, informed that a few minutes before New Year’s, the Russian Federation had attacked the energy infrastructure of the region. A fire broke out at one of the facilities.

“As a result of the attack, power outages are being recorded for critical enterprises that ensure the life of the city of Odessa. All relevant services are working in an intensified mode to eliminate the consequences,” the head of the OVA wrote.

At approximately 02:00, a series of explosions began to sound again in Odessa. Kiper reported that the Odesa region was under massive drone attack.

How the air defense worked

According to military data , from 6:00 p.m. on December 31 to the morning of January 1, the Russians attacked Ukraine with 205 Shahed, Gerbera and other types of drones from the following directions: Orel, Bryansk, Kursk, Primorsko-Akhtarsk, Millerovo – RF, Chauda, Gvardiyske – TOT AR Crimea, Donetsk. About 130 of them were Shaheds.

The air attack was repelled by aviation, anti-aircraft missile troops, electronic warfare and unmanned systems units, and mobile fire groups of the Defense Forces of Ukraine.

According to preliminary data, as of 08:30, air defenses shot down/suppressed 176 enemy Shahed, Gerber and other types of drones in the north, south and east of the country.

24 strike drones were recorded hitting 15 locations.

As a reminder, on the night of December 31, Ukrainian air defense forces destroyed or suppressed 101 drones out of 127 that Russian troops used to attack the country’s territory. The air attack began on the evening of December 30. Russia used Shahed, Gerbera and other types of drones, launching them from several directions in the territory of the Russian Federation, as well as from temporarily occupied Crimea.

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