UAV event in Ukraine on Fri 15th December 2023

Ukrainian air-defense units fired at Russian drones over Kyiv late on December 15, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said, advising residents of the Ukrainian capital to stay in shelters.

"Another group of UAVs is moving towards Kyiv. At present, the work of air defense can be heard on the left bank of the capital in the Darnytskiy district," he said on Telegram.

Witnesses quoted by Reuters said explosions resounded in the city as antiaircraft units went into operation.

The witnesses said air-raid sirens went off on the eastern bank of the Dnieper River, but on the opposite bank police warned residents of the air-raid alert through loudspeakers.

Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv's city military administration, said air-defense units were operating in the suburbs of the capital.

Earlier on December 15, the Russian Defense Ministry said Russian antiaircraft units destroyed dozens of Ukrainian drones over the Crimean Peninsula and the border region of Kursk.

A ministry statement on Telegram said the interceptions over Crimea took place between 8:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. local time.

Over the two-hour period, 26 drones were shot down over the peninsula, which Russia illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014, the ministry said, without saying if there were any victims or damage.

An earlier statement from the ministry said six drones targeting "installations on Russian territory" had been shot down in the Kursk region without giving further details.

Kursk Governor Roman Starovoit confirmed on Telegram that an attack had occurred in the region and told residents in the area to "stay calm."

In a separate statement, the Russia-installed governor of the part of the Kherson region held by Moscow, Vladimir Saldo, reported that Russian antiaircraft units downed at least 15 aerial targets near the city of Henichesk.

Saldo said on Telegram that fragments from the downed objects fell to the ground.

There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties in the reported attacks. The statements could not be independently verified.

Drone attacks in Russia's border regions have become more frequent, and Moscow and its outer suburbs also have been targeted, while Russian forces launch drone strikes almost daily on Ukrainian towns and cities. Massive drone attacks were launched on southern Ukraine this week, and ballistic missiles were fired at Kyiv, wounding dozens of people.

The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said Russian troops launched two missile strikes and 11 air strikes and shelled Ukrainian positions and civilian objects 17 times with rocket launchers during the day on December 15. Ukraine’s air-defense forces shot down one Kh-59 guided missile, the General Staff said in its evening summary.