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Air defense at work in Ukraine's northeastern Sumy Oblast in the evening of Jan. 17, 2024. Photo for illustrative purposes. (Sumy Oblast Military Administration/Telegram)
This audio is created with AI assistance

Ukrainian air defenses downed two missiles and three reconnaissance drones during a Russian attack overnight on April 20, reported Air Force commander Mykola Oleshchuk.

Russia launched a total of ten missiles and drones overnight, targeting Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk, and Mykolaiv oblasts.

According to the Air Force's report, two out of two Kh-59/Kh-69 guided cruise missiles, two Orlan-10 and one Supercam drones were downed by Ukrainian forces.

Russian troops also launched three Iskander-K cruise missiles and two S-300/400 missiles, Oleshchuk said. The missiles were launched from Russia's Belgorod Oblast and the Black Sea respectively.

In the morning, Russian forces attacked Odesa Oblast with ballistic missiles from occupied Crimea, hitting an infrastructure facility, regional Governor Oleh Kiper said. No casualties were reported.

Another missile strike launched against Odesa Oblast on April 19 injured a civilian and damaged port infrastructure. President Volodymyr Zelensky said that two food export terminals were damaged, including one owned by a Singaporean company.

Stocks of air defense ammunition in Ukraine are low as the country awaits much-needed U.S. military aid, the funding of which will be voted on on April 20.

In the meantime, Russia has stepped up targeted attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure, overwhelming local air defenses and destroying some of the country's largest thermal power plants.

Opinion: A look at the drone arsenal Russia uses against Ukraine
Drone combat in Russia’s war against Ukraine is changing warfare. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are being used at an unprecedented scale for which neither the Ukrainian nor the Russian armies were quite prepared. Both militaries have made significant progress with respect to drones, sometimes mode…
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