Overnight into December 23, Russia launched hundreds of drones and missiles at Ukraine. Ukraine’s air defenses shot down or suppressed 621 targets, but there were strikes in multiple locations.
Russia carried out a combined attack on Ukraine’s critical infrastructure, using hundreds of attack drones and missiles of various types. Ukraine’s Defense Forces repelled the assault, destroying most of the incoming threats.
According to Ukraine’s Armed Forces, from the evening of December 22 into the morning of December 23, Russia mounted a massive air strike on the country.
Radio-technical units recorded 673 aerial threats: 38 missiles and 635 UAVs of various types.
Among them:
- around 400 Shahed attack drones and other UAVs launched from Russia (Kursk, Oryol, Bryansk, Millerovo, Primorsko-Akhtarsk) and Russian-occupied Crimea (Chauda);
- three Kh-47M2 Kinzhal aero-ballistic missiles from Russia’s Ryazan region;
- 35 Kh-101 and Iskander-K cruise missiles from Vologda and Kursk regions.
The attack was countered by Ukrainian aircraft, air-defense missile units, electronic warfare units, mobile fire groups and unmanned systems of the Defense Forces.
As of 11:30, Ukrainian forces shot down or suppressed 621 targets:
- 587 attack drones;
- 34 cruise missiles;
- three Kinzhal missiles did not reach their targets; their crash sites are being verified.
Confirmed impacts:
- missiles and 39 drones struck 21 locations; debris from downed targets fell in eight additional locations.
F-16 pilots played a key role in repelling another overnight Russian attack, even as Ukraine faces shortages of missiles for air defenses and fighter jets.
Most of the Russian missiles launched during the overnight barrage into December 23 were intercepted by F-16 pilots, Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat said on the national news broadcast.
At the same time, Ihnat noted an insufficient supply of missiles for air-defense systems and Western-provided air-to-air munitions.
“The majority were intercepted by tactical aviation pilots. It was F-16 pilots who took part today in repelling this cruise-missile strike. I want to stress that missiles—both air-to-air for aviation and those for our air-defense systems—are in very short supply for us today. Everyone is emphasizing this—pilots in their interviews and the top military leadership... Some systems are sitting idle without them. And so, thanks to the fact that missiles for both aircraft and ground-based systems are arriving—not in the quantities we would like, of course, but they are arriving—we can repel such attacks today,” he said.
The spokesperson added that alongside the F-16s, Mirage jets, MiG-29s, Su-27s, interceptor drones and mobile fire groups also took part in countering the assault.
Russia launched a combined strike overnight into December 23 targeting Ukraine’s critical infrastructure with attack drones and air- and ground-launched missiles.
In a previous November attack, F-16 and Mirage 2000 pilots shot down at least 10 Russian cruise missiles.
