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Air Force: Ukraine downs 23 out of 31 Russian drones launched overnight

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Air Force: Ukraine downs 23 out of 31 Russian drones launched overnight
An apartment building in Dnipro damaged by Russia's overnight drone attack on Feb. 23, 2024. ( Serhii Lysak/Telegram)

Ukraine’s military shot down 23 out of the 31 Shahed-type drones Russia launched overnight on Feb. 23, the Air Force reported.

The drones were downed over Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava, Mykolaiv, and Kharkiv oblasts, according to the Air Force.

Russia also reportedly fired three S-300 anti-aircraft guided missiles from Donetsk Oblast, a Kh-31P missile, and two Kh-22 missiles from the Black Sea.

The Air Force did not specify whether missiles hit any targets, but Ukraine’s Southern Defense Forces said earlier that the Kh-31P and Kh-22 lost their combat capability in the air.

In Ukraine’s southern city of Odesa, a drone crashed into the building of a civilian enterprise in the coastal zone, killing three people, Odesa Oblast Governor Oleh Kiper said on Telegram.

At least eight people were injured in Dnipro, where an apartment building and an enterprise were hit in the overnight attack, according to Serhii Lysak, the regional governor.

Air defenses destroyed five drones over three districts of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Lysak added.

Drone attacks are an almost daily occurrence in Ukraine, affecting various regions across the country. Overnight on Feb. 22, Ukraine’s air defenses reportedly downed eight Shahed drones.

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At NATO's Aurora 2026 military exercises in Sweden, a group of Ukrainian drone pilots was tasked with playing the role of attackers. The Kyiv Independent's Francis Farrell spoke with drone pilots from Ukraine's 20th National Guard "Lubart" Brigade, part of the 1st Azov Corps, shortly after they returned from Sweden.

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