Russia launches massive missile and drone attack on Ukraine
The Russian military has once again attacked Ukraine, using hypersonic ballistic missiles Kinzhal and other weaponry. A nationwide air raid alert was declared across Ukraine on the night of Monday, January 8th, with the Ukrainian Air Force stating that rockets had been launched by Russian strategic aviation aircraft. 11 Tu-95MS strategic bombers and 4 MiG-31Ks were flew from airbases in the Nizhny Novgorod and Murmansk regions. Additionally, missile launches from the Caspian Sea area were recorded.
The Ukrainian Air Force later reported that during a new massive assault on Ukraine, the Russians used cruise, aviation, ballistic, and anti-aircraft guided missiles, as well as attack drones. According to their data, the Russian armed forces launched a total of 59 air attack vehicles. Among them, the Ukrainian Air Force detected 8 Shahed-136/131 strike drones launched from Primorsko-Akhtarsk, 7 anti-aircraft guided missiles S-300/S-400 from the Belgorod region, and 4 Kinzhal X-47M2 ballistic missiles, which were fired from MiG-31Ks taking off from airfields in Ryazan and Tambov.
Furthermore, Russia utilized 24 cruise missiles of the X-101/X-555/X-55 types, launched by 11 Tu-95MS strategic bombers in the Engels area, 8 X-22 cruise missiles from Tu-22M3 bombers in the Belgorod region, 6 Iskander-M ballistic missiles from the annexed territory of Crimea, and 2 X-31P guided aviation missiles, launched from tactical aircraft in the Belgorod region, it was noted on Telegram.
The Ukrainian Air Force states that they destroyed 8 Shahed-136/131 drones and 18 X-101/X-555/X-55 cruise missiles. The targets for the attacks were critical infrastructure, as well as civilian and military facilities. "This time, the enemy attacked various regions of Ukraine. Missiles were directed at the Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Khmelnytskyi regions," the Ukrainian Air Force said.
The attacks in various regions of Ukraine resulted in at least four deaths, including two individuals in the Khmelnytskyi region and one each in the Kharkiv region and Kryvyi Rih. At least 33 people were injured, stated Deputy Head of the President's Office of Ukraine, Oleksiy Kuleba, on Telegram.
Reports of explosions in several Ukrainian cities appeared early in the morning. Among them, the Head of the Kharkiv Regional Military Administration, Oleh Synegubov, stated that at least four strikes were inflicted on Kharkiv by the Russians. "The type of weaponry is being established. For now, there are no casualties," he wrote in a Telegram channel. Explosions were also reported in Dnipro, Kryvyi Rih, Zaporizhzhia, the Odesa and Zhytomyr regions. A fire in a shopping center in Kryvyi Rih and casualties in Zaporizhzhia, where missiles struck residential areas, were among the incidents reported.
The Mayor of Novomoskovsk, a city in the Dnipropetrovsk region, Serhiy Reznik informed that several residential buildings were damaged due to a rocket attack, with 20 individuals including children injured, but no fatalities. "This morning has been unfavorable for us," Reznik wrote in his Telegram channel.
Oleh Kiper, the Head of the Odesa Regional Military Administration, stated that Odesa region was attacked by strike drones, with the anti-air defense forces destroying seven UAVs. "In the Odesa district, debris from one of the downed drones fell. A fire broke out, which was rapidly extinguished. There were no casualties or damage," he indicated on Telegram.
The Southern Defense Forces of Ukraine announced they had shot down all 8 Russian Shahed-131/136 drones launched from the Black Sea toward the Odesa and Mykolaiv regions. Debris from one drone fell in an open area of the Odesa district, igniting a fire which was soon extinguished.
According to the Ukrainian Air Force, the rockets also targeted western regions of Ukraine, including a missile flying through the Ivano-Frankivsk region towards Lviv region. The head of the Lviv region, Maksym Kozytskyi, stated that most of the strikes were concentrated in the west of Ukraine.
A missile strike on Ukrainian territory also occurred the night before, on the eve of Orthodox Christmas.