Ukrainian air defence downs all 13 Russian Shahed drones attacking Ukraine

The Russians launched 13 Shahed-131/136 strike UAVs at Ukraine overnight on 18 April, all of which were shot down by air defence forces.

Source: Lieutenant General Mykola Oleshchuk, Commander of Ukraine's Air Force, on Telegram; Illia Yevlash, spokesperson for Ukraine's Air Force, on air during the national joint 24/7 newscast

Details: Oleshchuk stated that the Russian occupiers launched drones from the areas of ​​Primorsko-Akhtarsk in Russian territory and Cape Chauda from occupied Crimea. 

All 13 Shahed drones were shot down by anti-aircraft missile units of the Air Force and mobile fire groups of the Defence Forces in Kherson, Dnipropetrovsk, Vinnytsia, Poltava, Khmelnytskyi, Ternopil, and Ivano-Frankivsk oblasts.

Illia Yevlash explained that the Shahed UAVs had followed regular routes and "sought to complicate and confuse their trail as much as possible".

The official added that the Shaheds follow routes that use rough terrain and river mouths, and sometimes even linger in some places. For example, a Russian drone hovered over a body of water for several hours on the border of Dnipropetrovsk and Poltava oblasts overnight, though it was eventually destroyed.

"However, our Defence Forces managed to destroy all 13 uncrewed aerial vehicles regardless of such tactics," Yevlash noted.

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