On the night of 24 May, Russia carried out one of its largest air attacks since the beginning of the year: It fired 14 Iskander-M/KN-23 ballistic missiles and launched 250 attack drones at Ukraine. The main impact was on Kyiv, but Dnipro, Odesa, Kharkiv, Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions were also shelled.
This was reported by the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on its official Telegram channel.
According to them, six of the 14 missiles were shot down over Kyiv. Another seven missiles missed their targets, and one hit an industrial facility in Zaporizhzhia region. At the same time, air defence and electronic warfare systems destroyed or suppressed 245 out of 250 drones, mostly of the Shahed type, launched from the Bryansk, Kursk, and Rostov regions of Russia, as well as from Crimea.
Fighter jets, anti-aircraft missile systems, mobile fire groups and electronic warfare units were used to repel the air strike. In particular, 128 drones were shot down by firepower, and another 117 were suppressed or lost their orientation as a result of electronic warfare.
The attack was part of the Kremlin’s escalation strategy ahead of the G7 summit and pressure on Ukrainian cities in the midst of the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ preparations for new defensive lines.
