Ukraine's forces down 60 out of 76 missiles launched by Russia
On December 16, Russians launched 76 missiles at Ukraine, including 72 cruise missiles. Ukraine’s air defence forces downed 60 of them.
Source: Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, on Telegram; Armed Forces of Ukraine, on Telegram
Quote: "According to preliminary reports, the enemy launched 76 missiles at Ukraine’s critical infrastructure targets, among them 72 are cruise missiles (Kh-101, Kalibr, Kh-22) and 4 guided air-launched missiles (Kh-59/Kh-31P), from the water area of the Caspian and Black seas."
Details: According to the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, 60 Russian missiles were shot down by the anti-aircraft missile forces of the Ukrainian Air Force and the air defence of the Ground Forces.
"The missile terror and the enemy's daring attempts to break through Kyiv's anti-aircraft defences will not force us to lay down our arms," Zaluzhnyi emphasised.
The Air Force said that the specific feature of this attack was that the Kh-101/Kh-555 cruise missiles were launched not only from above the Caspian Sea and Saratov Oblast, but also over the Engels airbase that hosts the Tu-95MS strategic bombers, which carry the missiles.
Apart from that, the invaders launched sea-based cruise missiles from the Admiral Makarov cruiser, the flagship of Russia's Black Sea Fleet.
Several Kh-22 cruise missiles were launched from Tu-22M3, the long-range bombers, over the Sea of Azov; four Kh-59 and Kh-31P, the air-launched missiles, were fired from Russian tactical aviation, presumably Su-35 fighter jets.
During the large-scale attack, an Il-76 A-50U, a Russian AWACS jet, hovered in the skies over Belarus; a MiG-31K interceptor capable of carrying a Kinzhal hypersonic missile patrolled the skies, too.
During the attack, Athe occupiers also opened fire from S-300 surface-to-air missile systems; about 27 launches were observed.
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