The Defense Forces shot down 80 drones that Russian occupiers have been using to attack Ukraine since the evening of October 17, according to the Ukrainian Air Force on Telegram.
The report states that since 8:00 PM on October 17, the Russians have been launching Shahed-type attack UAVs and unidentified drones from regions like Kursk, Orel, and Primorsko-Akhtarsk.
As of 8:30 AM, the Air Force's radar troops detected and tracked 135 drones. The air assault is being repelled by aviation, air defense missile units, electronic warfare units, and mobile fire groups of the Air Force and Ukraine’s Defense Forces.
During the air defense battle, 80 drones were shot down in the Odessa, Sumy, Cherkasy, Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Kirovohrad, Chernihiv, Poltava, Khmelnytskyi, Rivne, Kharkiv, Kherson, Volyn, and Vinnytsia regions.
44 Russian drones have been lost from radar, two flew into Belarus, and up to 10 UAVs remain in the airspace of Ukraine's central regions.
The battle continues, with updates to follow, and the Air Force urged people to heed air raid alerts.