Most enemy missiles were intercepted today by tactical aircraft, in particular F-16s, - Ihnat. VIDEO

During the Russian Federation's nighttime attack on December 23, most of the enemy missiles were shot down by F-16 fighter jets. At the same time, Ukraine continues to experience a shortage of missiles for air defense systems and air-to-air ammunition, which are being supplied by Western partners in insufficient quantities.

This was announced on television by Yurii Ihnat, head of communications for the Ukrainian Air Force Command, according to Censor.NET, citing Ukrinform.

The result of tactical aviation operations

The vast majority (of missiles – Ed.) were intercepted by tactical aviation pilots. It was F-16 pilots who joined in repelling this strike of cruise missiles today. I want to emphasize that missiles, both air-to-air and those that our air defense systems use, are pretty scarce for us right now. Everyone emphasizes this — pilots say so in their interviews, and so does the top military leadership. The President of Ukraine, in particular, emphasized to partners the need (he spoke about this just recently) to strengthen air defense with both complexes and missiles. This is because some complexes are essentially without them. And so, thanks to the fact that missiles, both for aircraft and ground-based systems, are not arriving in the quantities we would like, of course, but are arriving nonetheless, we are able to repel such attacks today," said Ihnat.

According to the spokesperson, in addition to F-16s, Mirage, MiG-29, Su-27, interceptor drones, and mobile fire groups also repelled the air strikes.

He also noted that the vast majority of enemy strikes are targeting energy infrastructure in various regions of Ukraine and port infrastructure in the Odesa region.

In addition, Ihnat added that analysis of rocket debris and "Shaheds" shows that the enemy is using weapons that are literally rolling off the assembly line.

What preceded it?

Earlier, Censor.NET reported that Russia had launched Kalibr cruise missiles from the Black Sea and was launching massive drone attacks on Ukraine.
Due to enemy attacks in a number of regions, emergency power cuts have been implemented.
It was also reported that the enemy attacked the Rivne region, damaging an apartment building.
In addition, Russian troops struck the Zhytomyr region, injuring five people, killing one child, and damaging homes and businesses.
In the Kyiv region, a woman was killed in an attack by the Russian Federation, and two districts of the region were damaged.
There is damage and power outages in the Odesa region due to the Russian Federation's attack.
In addition, Russian forces attacked an energy facility in the Lviv region.
An attack by the Russian Federation on Kyiv was also recorded. Four people were injured, including a child, and a house was damaged.