Battling drones, air defense / Photo by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
On the night of February 21, Russian occupation forces launched an attack on Ukraine, deploying six missiles and 19 Shahed-type kamikaze drones. In response, the Defence Forces successfully intercepted one missile and downed 13 enemy drones. Additionally, Ukrainian defenders successfully neutralized an enemy Su-24 aircraft.
The Air Defence Forces’ press service provided details on the night operations.
The occupiers initiated an attack by launching an S-300 anti-aircraft guided missile, four X-22 cruise missiles from the Rostov region, an X-59 guided missile from the Belgorod region, and 19 Shahed UAVs from the Russian city of Primorsko-Akhtarsk.
An X-59 guided missile was destroyed in the Poltava region, and 13 out of the 19 Shahed UAVs were successfully eliminated in Kharkiv, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, and Donetsk regions, according to the Air Force.
Some of the six remaining enemy UAVs did not reach their intended targets.
Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk also announced on the morning of February 21 that an enemy Su-34 fighter-bomber had been shot down.
«This time, I can say that the Su-35 pilot was lucky – he maneuvered and is no longer at risk. As for the Su-34 crew, they join our «Eternal Flight, Brothers» section. I have good results from objective control so that no one doubts! We will dismantle the Russian bear piece by piece» — Oleshchuk noted
As a reminder, on the morning of February 19, the Ukrainian Air Force successfully shot down two Russian aircraft.