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Ukrainian Military Disclose the Scale of Today's russian Aerial Attack

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S-300 missile launch / Illustrative photo credit: Air Force Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
S-300 missile launch / Illustrative photo credit: Air Force Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine

Cruise, surface-to-air missiles, drones – russians use all they have to break through Ukraine's air defense

Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine revealed the details of the russian attack on Ukrainian critical infrastructure on October 31.

"Just today, the enemy used 55 Kh-101 cruise missiles and one Kh-59 guided air missile, 22 anti-aircraft missiles for S-300 surface-to-air missile systems (SA-10 Grumble – author's note), 4 'Shahed-136' UAVs and one 'Lancet-3' UAV on civilian targets in Ukraine," noted General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the supreme commander of AFU.

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According to the report from the Air Force Command, 44 out of those 55 Kh-101/Kh-555 cruise missiles were successfully destroyed. The attack was carried out in a few waves and aimed for the objects of critical infrastructure of Ukraine. The missiles were launched from the Caspian Sea by Tu-95/Tu-160 strategic aircraft.

Kh-101 under the wing of a Tu-95MS aircraft / Open source photo

Those missiles that managed to break through, hit 18 facilities in 10 administrative regions, mostly the ones providing power supply, Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal informed. Local authorities reported blackouts and problems with water supply and communication. One of the pieces of a missile also fell onto Moldova's territory.

One of the russian missiles fell on the territory of Moldova as it got shot down by Ukrainian air defense. Air Force spokesman Yurii Ihnat says this is not the first time russian missiles attack Ukraine from Moldovan airspace / Photo: smoke rising from the assessed site where the russian missile fell / Photo credit: SPRAVDI

However, it takes more and more resources for the russians to launch such attacks. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky noted in his daily address that most of the objects identified by russians as targets were saved:

"Of course, we will continue to strengthen our air defense. But already now, for every ten hits, terrorists have to spend at least four times more missiles. Russia has an even worse result with regard to drones, including those supplied by its Iranian accomplices. And the world sees that. It sees that the former "2nd army of the world" is no longer even the 22nd in terms of its effectiveness. And we will do everything to make it into the second hundred. And it will be so," the Ukrainian President assured.

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