“The air defense is extremely effective, because the Daggers, although not intercepted by Patriot, did not achieve their goals. Of the 35 cruise missiles, 34 were shot down. Mostly, these missiles were intercepted by F-16 aircraft. For this we thank our valiant pilots,” Ignat said.
At the same time, he emphasized that some systems in Ukraine – aviation or ground – “stand empty”, without missiles. Ignat called on Ukraine’s partners to provide what can protect people, cities and energy.
According to Ignat, Ukrainian air defense has “zonal-objective cover.”
“If we can cover critical infrastructure facilities, cities, troops in important directions of the front, there will still be “holes” – routes that the enemy uses for overflights. But even there, no one says that we do not shoot down. […] There are mobile fire groups there, there is electronic warfare there. And if there are cruise missiles, then fighter aircraft work. […] The F-16s today shot down virtually all the missiles,” said the head of the communications department of the Armed Forces Command of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
As Ignat noted, military authorities determine exactly where ground-based air defense systems will operate, where interceptor drones will operate, and where manned aircraft will operate.
“This decision is made extremely quickly – we don’t know in advance exactly where the missiles and other air assets will fly,” he said.
Context
On the night of December 23, the aggressor country of the Russian Federation attacked 13 regions of Ukraine, primarily Ukrainian energy and civil infrastructure, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said. He said that in the Kyiv region a woman was killed by a Russian drone strike, and in the Zhitomir region a Russian drone hit a residential building, resulting in the death of a four-year-old child. It is also known that a person died in the Khmelnitsky region, the president added.
As a result of the Russian attack, energy facilities in the western regions of Ukraine suffered the most, Prime Minister Yulia Sviridenko informed. According to the Ministry of Energy, as of the morning of December 23, consumers in the Rivne, Ternopil and Khmelnytsky regions were almost completely de-energized. The Russian attack on the Ukrainian energy system has become the ninth since the beginning of the year, Ukrenergo noted.
The Russian Federation launched a combined strike against critical infrastructure in Ukraine using 635 Shahed/Gerbera-type attack UAVs (drones of other types), three Kinjal aeroballistic missiles and 35 cruise missiles (Kh-101 and Iskander-K), the Air Force of the Ukrainian Armed Forces reported. Air Defense Forces shot down/suppressed 587 Russian attack drones and 34 enemy Kh-101 and Iskander-K missiles. Missiles and 39 attack UAVs were recorded hitting 21 locations, three “Kindzhals” did not reach their targets, the Armed Forces of the Armed Forces noted.
