Alexander Ermochenko/Portal
A damaged apartment after a recent shelling in Makiivka, outside Donetsk in Russian-controlled Ukraine.
Kyiv CNN —
Russia launched another major missile and drone attack on Ukraine on Saturday, the fourth such attack since December 29, amid fears that Moscow is trying to overwhelm Ukraine's air defenses.
According to the Ukrainian Air Force, the Russian attack included 40 offensive weapons, including cruise missiles, aeroballistic, ballistic, aircraft and anti-aircraft missiles, as well as attack UAVs.
According to the Ukrainian Air Force, eight missiles were shot down. Additionally, they stated that “over 20 airstrike weapons fired failed to reach their targets due to extensive electronic warfare countermeasures.”
Air raid warnings and defenses were activated across the country. Impacts occurred in several regions, including the city of Chernihiv in northern Ukraine and Dnipro in the east.
In Chernihiv, rocket fragments caused damage to uninhabited civilian residential buildings in the city, according to police.
“The fragments of an enemy missile caused destruction in the private residential area of Chernihiv. Fortunately, no people were injured,” the police wrote on Telegram.
The area had previously been damaged, which is why there were no civilian casualties, the local mayor said.
According to the head of the military administration of the Dnipropetrovsk region, Serhii Lysak, attacks occurred in Dnipro.
“We are now determining the extent of the damage caused by the strikes. However, people always come first. Luckily everyone is safe,” Lysak wrote on Telegram.
The Russian Defense Ministry said Saturday's aerial fire “reached its target” and hit facilities in the Ukrainian military industrial complex.
Saturday's attacks are the fourth largest since Russia began nationwide bombings on December 29.
Analysts believe the latest Russian missile attack is aimed at overloading Ukraine's limited missile defenses.
In an earlier attack on January 7, Ukraine was able to shoot down only 18 of the 59 missiles fired.
The Russian army has also used new tactics as part of its airstrikes, such as painting its Iranian-made drones black to camouflage them against the night sky.
Another tactic, a Ukrainian unit told CNN, is to shift some drones' engine exhaust from the rear to the front to confuse anti-aircraft batteries with thermal sights.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said during a news conference with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Friday that the country is far from having full air support.
“We lack Patriot systems and lack appropriate systems of varying range. It comes little by little. Something is on the way. We agreed on something new. However, we still lack suitable systems, for example to combat ballistic missiles,” said Zelensky.
Ukraine is relying on mobile air defense fire groups to shoot down drones as supplies of anti-aircraft missiles run out.
“They are now the backbone unit that destroys enemy UAVs. We are counting on them so that we can save on guided anti-aircraft missiles, which are quite scarce for us in such massive attacks,” air force spokesman Yurii Ihnat said after a barrage of 29 Iranian Shahed UAVs were fired across the country last week.