Russians launch 51 missiles and 8 attack drones at Ukraine: almost half were downed

Iryna Balachuk — Monday, 8 January 2024, 11:42

Stock photo: Ukraine's Air Force

The Russian occupiers have fired 59 aerial weapons on Ukraine – missiles of various types and Shahed attack drones; 18 missiles and all eight Shaheds have been shot down.

Source: Ukraine’s Air Force; Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, on Telegram

Quote from Ukraine’s Air Force: "The defenders of the sky have destroyed eight Shahed-136/131 attack UAVs and 18 Kh-101/Kh-555/Kh-55 cruise missiles. It should be added that not all the enemy missiles that were not shot down reached their targets."

Details: It is reported that the Russians launched a large-scale attack on Ukraine on the night of 7-8 January, using:

8 Shahed-136/131 attack UAVs, launched from the area of Primorsko-Akhtarsk (Russia),
7 S-300/S-400 anti-aircraft guided missiles from Russia’s Belgorod Oblast,
4 Kh-47M2 Kinzhal aeroballistic missiles from four MiG-31K aircraft, launched from Ryazan and Tambov, Russia,
24 Kh-101/Kh-555/Kh-55 cruise missiles from 11 Tu-95MS strategic bombers, launched from Engels, Russia,
8 Kh-22 cruise missiles from Tu-22M3 bombers, launched from Russia’s Belgorod Oblast,
6 Iskander-M ballistic missiles, launched from Dzhankoi and Chauda in Crimea,
2 Kh-31P guided missiles from tactical aircraft, launched from Russia’s Belgorod Oblast.

The Russians targeted critical infrastructure, industrial, civilian and military facilities.

They hit different oblasts of Ukraine. In particular, ballistic missiles were fired into Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia and Khmelnytskyi oblasts.

Background:

At least four people have been killed, 33 more injured, and several more may be under the rubble as a result of a Russian missile attack on Ukraine on the morning of 8 January.
This is the third massive attack in the last 11 days.
On the night and morning of 28-29 December, Russia launched a large-scale air attack on Ukraine. Kyiv, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Odesa, Lviv, Zaporizhzhia and other cities were targeted.
On the second day after the attack, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported that 39 people had been killed and 159 injured in the massive Russian missile strike on 29 December. Later, another two bodies were found in Kyiv, with the death toll currently standing at 32.
Then the Russian forces fired 158 air targets at Ukraine – drones and missiles of various types. Air defence managed to destroy 114 of them. The Ukrainian Air Force said the Russian Federation used almost all types of weapons available to it.
On 2 January, Russia launched 99 missiles of various types towards Ukraine, 72 of which were destroyed. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, noted that the Russians had attacked civilian and critical infrastructure, industrial and military facilities. They mainly targeted the Ukrainian capital.
On the morning of 3 January, it was reported that, as a result of this attack, four people had been killed and another 54 injured.