Air defense forces shot down 152 Russian drones overnight; the attack continues
On the night of October 17–18, Russian forces attacked Ukraine with 180 drones and one Iskander-M ballistic missile. Air defense forces shot down or neutralized 152 drones. At the same time, strikes were recorded at 20 locations, and debris from downed drones fell at four locations.
On the night of Saturday, October 18, Russian forces again launched an air attack on Ukraine. Starting at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 17, the enemy launched 180 attack drones and one Iskander-M ballistic missile. The Russians launched the missile from the Voronezh region of the Russian Federation. Among the drones were Shahed drones, including 26 jet-powered ones, as well as S-8000 “Banderole/Dan-T” and “Gerbera” drones, and “Parody” decoy drones.
The drones were launched from various directions. Among them were the Russian cities of Orel, Bryansk, Kursk, Shatalovo, and Primorsko-Akhtarsk, as well as the temporarily occupied city of Donetsk and Gvardeyskoye in occupied Crimea. Various units of the Ukrainian Defense Forces repelled the Russian air attack. Combat aviation, anti-aircraft missile forces, electronic warfare (EW) units, drone operators, and mobile fire groups all participated in the operation.
According to preliminary data from the Air Force, as of 8:00 a.m. on Sunday, air defenses had shot down or neutralized 152 enemy drones. However, not all strikes were prevented. Ukrainian military personnel recorded airstrikes at 20 locations. Downed drones or their debris fell at four additional sites.
At the time of publication, the attack was ongoing. According to the Air Force, about ten Russian drones remained in Ukrainian airspace. There were also reports of the consequences of a Russian attack in Zaporizhzhia, where one woman was killed and two other people were wounded. This was reported by the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Over the past day, the Russian army lost another approximately 2,090 soldiers in the war against Ukraine. The Ukrainian General Staff also reported the destruction of dozens of armored vehicles and artillery pieces, as well as over a thousand drones. According to estimates by the Ukrainian command, Russia’s total losses since the start of the full-scale invasion have reached approximately 1,565,000 people.
