Russia attacked Ukraine with 35 missiles and 185 drones; air defense systems shot down only one ballistic target
On the night of August 1, Russia launched a massive combined attack on Ukraine, using 35 missiles and 185 attack drones of various types.
According to the Ukrainian Air Force, air defense forces managed to shoot down only one ballistic missile out of 27 and destroy most of the enemy drones.
According to military sources, the enemy used:
- 4 “Zircon”/“Onyx” anti-ship missiles (from the Kursk and Rostov regions of the Russian Federation);
- 27 “Iskander-M”/S-400 ballistic missiles (from the Bryansk and Kursk regions of the Russian Federation);
- 2 Kh-31 anti-radar missiles;
- 2 X-59/69 guided air-to-ground missiles (from the Black Sea);
- 185 attack drones of various types, including Shahed, jet-powered unmanned aerial vehicles, “Gerbera,” “Italmas,” “Banderol” loitering munitions, and “Parody” decoy drones.
The drones were launched from the Bryansk, Kursk, and Oryol regions of the Russian Federation, as well as from the temporarily occupied territories of the Donetsk region and Crimea.
The Kyiv region was the main target of the attack. The Dnipropetrovsk, Sumy, Kharkiv, and Poltava regions also came under enemy fire.
As of 9:30 a.m., Ukrainian air defense forces had shot down or neutralized 156 aerial targets, including:
- 1 “Iskander-M”/S-400 ballistic missile;
- 1 X-59/69 guided air-to-ground missile;
- 154 enemy drones of various types.
According to preliminary data from the Air Force, 4 anti-ship missiles and 26 ballistic missiles, as well as 23 attack drones, were recorded as having struck 21 locations.
In addition, debris from the downed targets fell in two other locations. Military officials clarified that three missiles did not reach their targets.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that of the 35 missiles fired at Ukraine, 27 were ballistic, but Ukrainian defenders managed to intercept only one.
“And it is precisely this shortage of anti-ballistic interceptors that only encourages Russia to carry out such attacks against civilian lives,” the head of state emphasized.
According to the president, the main reason for the low effectiveness of ballistic missile interception is the shortage of interceptor missiles for the Patriot systems, which remain the key means of defense against this type of weaponry.
This was reported by the Ukrainian Air Force and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The number of casualties resulting from the massive Russian attack on Kyiv on the night of August 1 has risen to 30. Among the wounded are four children, and nine people were killed in the strike.
Following yet another massive Russian attack on Kyiv, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sibiga stated that the country urgently needs additional air and missile defense systems, as well as interceptor missiles.
Nine people were killed and another 28 were injured as a result of the Russian nighttime attack on Kyiv on August 1. Among the victims were four children.
On the evening of July 31, a Russian attack drone struck a high-rise residential building in the Saltivsky district of Kharkiv. According to preliminary reports, the building’s roof was damaged, but there were no casualties.
As a reminder, Russian drones attacked the Chernihiv region, damaging a gas station and a resort.
Russia launched a ballistic missile strike on Kyiv on the afternoon of July 24, although such attacks usually occur at night. An expert believes this may have been an attempt to wear down Ukraine’s air defense, a show of force, or the result of a technical delay in the missile launch.
Russian troops shot and killed a Ukrainian prisoner of war in the Donetsk region.
