Russian forces launched a record 145 drones at Ukraine overnight and Ukrainian air defense downed 62 drones, Ukraine’s Air Force wrote on Facebook on Nov. 10.
Air defense shot down drones in the regions of Odesa, Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Kharkiv, Poltava, Sumy, Vinnytsia, Khmelnytskyi, Chernihiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Mykolaiv, Zaporizhzhia, and Donetsk. Ukrainian forces used anti-aircraft missiles, electronic warfare units, and mobile fire groups.
Apartment buildings and private property were damaged in Odesa, but no fatalities were reported. In Kyiv, air defense shot down around a dozen drones during two overnight air alerts, and the capital avoided any damage.
“Recently, the enemy has begun to change its tactics for using its drones. However, all components of the Ukrainian Defense Forces involved in the protection of airspace are responding to new challenges in an appropriate and effective manner,” Serhii Popko, head of Kyiv City Military Administration, wrote on Telegram.
Of the Russian drones, 67 were lost in different regions of Ukraine while 10 flew into Moldovan, Belarusian, and Russian airspace.
Russia has amped up its drone attacks recently and launched more than 2,000 strike drones against Ukraine in October, the General Staff reported on Nov. 1, breaking the previous record set in September by nearly 700.
Moscow has dialed down the use of more powerful and harder-to-intercept cruise and ballistic missiles. Experts who spoke to the Kyiv Independent said this may well be in preparation for an unprecedented mass attack rather than any sort of restraint from the Kremlin.
Chris York
