Russia tries to attack airfield in western Ukraine, all missiles taken down

Russia launched thirteen cruise missiles at a military airfield in the Khmelnytsky region, in western Ukraine, overnight on Friday, with all taken down, the Ukrainian Air Force Command said in a statement.

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According to the Ukrainian military, four Tu-95MS strategic bombers launched 13 X-101 and X-555 missiles from the Caspian Sea at a military airfield in the Khmelnytsky region.

The missiles were launched around midnight.

All the targets were shot down by air defence forces, most of them in the Khmelnytsky region.

In addition, Ukrainian soldiers shot down an unidentified reconnaissance drone.

Russia has been regularly launching missile and drone attacks on Ukraine since last September, apparently in an attempt to exhaust Ukrainian air defences, which have prevented it from using aviation more freely.

In turn, Ukraine’s bolstered up its air defence capabilities with Western systems, including Patriot, NASAMS, and IRIS-T systems, as well as preliminary arrangements to train its pilots for F-16 aircraft.