Ukrainian Defense Forces shoot down 81 Russian missiles, 80 drones during large-scale attack
This was reported by the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Telegram, as covered by Ukrinform.
From 14:00 on Thursday, December 12, to 10:00 on Friday, December 13, Russian forces launched a combined aerial assault on Ukraine using various missile types and drones.
Radar and air defense units detected 287 airborne threats during this period, including 94 missiles and 193 drones:
- four Kh-47M2 Kinzhal aeroballistic missiles launched from MiG-31K fighter jets (launch area: Tambov region);
- two Iskander-M ballistic missiles (launch area: Bryansk region and temporarily occupied Crimea);
- one KN-23 ballistic missile (launch area: Bryansk region);
- 55 Kh-101/Kh-55SM cruise missiles launched from Tu-95MS bombers (launch area: Volgograd region);
- 24 Kalibr cruise missiles (launch area: Black Sea);
- seven Iskander-K cruise missiles (launch areas: Voronezh and Rostov regions);
- one guided air missile Kh-59/Kh-69 (launch area: temporarily occupied Luhansk airspace);
- 193 strike drones, including Shahed UAVs and other unidentified types, launched from Kursk, Primorsko-Akhtarsk, Oryol, Bryansk, and Millerovo areas.
Ukraine’s Air Defense successfully countered the attack using surface-to-air missile systems, aviation, including effective use of F-16 jets, electronic warfare units, mobile fire teams.
At 11:30 the following airborne threats were confirmed to have been destroyed:
- 80 cruise missiles (Kh-101/Kh-55SM/Kalibr/Iskander-K);
- one ballistic missile (Iskander-M);
- 80 drones (Shahed and unidentified types).
Additionally, 105 enemy drones failed to reach their targets due to countermeasures and were lost en route, five drones returned to Russian territory, one drone returned to Belarus.
The Ukrainian Air Force emphasized that the missile and drone strikes were primarily aimed at Ukraine’s energy infrastructure again.
Earlier, President Volodymyr Zelensky reported that on the morning of December 13, Russia launched 93 missiles (including a North Korean-made missile) and nearly 200 drones at Ukraine.
