F-16s and Mirages destroy hundreds of drones and all cruise missiles during Russian attack – Air Force
On the night of 17 February, the Air Force repelled a large-scale Russian air strike: all cruise missiles and more than 360 drones were destroyed.
As reported by Censor.NET, citing Ukrinform, this was stated by Yurii Ihnat, Head of the Communications Department of the Air Force Command of Ukraine’s Armed Forces.
"This time the geography of the strike was broad, air raid sirens blared across the entire country, and various means were employed to repel it," Ihnat noted.
According to him, Ukrainian aviation is demonstrating high effectiveness in repelling air attacks. In particular, F-16 and Mirage aircraft destroyed a significant number of enemy missiles and drones during the latest strikes.
"Today our pilots carried out their missions, especially on foreign aircraft, namely F-16s as well as Mirages. A significant number of missiles were destroyed by aviation means," he stressed.
Ballistic missiles not intercepted
According to Ihnat, during the attack, the Ukrainian air defense systems destroyed all enemy cruise missiles, including Kh-101 and Iskander-K.
He also said that one air-launched missile was intercepted. At the same time, four ballistic missiles were not shot down.
"Unfortunately, there were no interceptions today – four ballistic missiles in the eastern regions were not intercepted due to certain circumstances," the spokesperson for Ukraine’s Air Force explained.
Ihnat also noted that the enemy primarily targeted critical infrastructure facilities, including railway and energy infrastructure.
"Russia is indeed not abandoning its intentions to take advantage of the current weather conditions, cold spell that has not yet eased in Ukraine, to destroy heating and electricity supplies," he concluded.
Mass strike on 17 February
During the night and morning of 17 February, Russia carried out a large-scale air strike on Ukraine, using cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, and hundreds of strike drones. Air raid sirens blared across the country.
According to Ukraine’s Air Force, Russian forces launched 29 missiles of various types and nearly 400 UAVs at Ukraine. In particular:
- four Iskander-M ballistic missiles;
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20 Kh-101 air-launched cruise missiles;
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four Iskander-K cruise missiles;
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one Kh-59/69 guided air-launched missile;
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396 strike UAVs of the Shahed, Gerbera and Italmas types, as well as drones of other types.
As of 9:30 a.m., air defense systems had neutralized 392 targets.
Impacts were recorded from four ballistic missiles and 18 strike UAVs at 13 locations, as well as the fall of downed targets (fragments) at eight locations.
From the evening of 16 February, Russian invaders attacked the Dnipropetrovsk region with missiles, drones, artillery, and aerial bombs. Five districts of the region came under attack.
The enemy strikes once again targeted energy infrastructure in the Odesa region. DTEK said the damage was extremely severe. Repairs will take a long time to restore the equipment to working condition.
In addition, the enemy attempted to attack the Rivne region; people and infrastructure were not affected.
