Russia launches 108 drones at Ukraine overnight; 85 intercepted, hits at 7 locations
On the night of September 14, Russian forces attacked Ukraine with 108 strike UAVs, including Shahed, Gerbera, and Parodia decoy drones. Ukrainian air defense shot down or suppressed 85 of them as of 08:00, but hits were recorded at seven locations. The attack was still ongoing in the morning, with enemy drones remaining in Ukrainian airspace.
Key points
- Russia launched 108 strike UAVs overnight on September 14, including Shahed (including jet-powered variants), Gerbera, and Parodia decoy drones.
- Drones were launched from the directions of Orel and Kursk in Russia and from occupied Donetsk and Hvardiiske in occupied Crimea.
- As of 08:00 on September 14, air defense had shot down or suppressed 85 enemy UAVs.
- Hits by enemy air attack means were recorded at 7 locations.
- Aviation, anti-aircraft missile troops, electronic warfare and unmanned systems units, and mobile fire groups of Ukraine's Defense Forces engaged the attack.
- The figures on downed drones and hit locations are preliminary as of 08:00.
- As of the morning of September 14, the attack was ongoing and enemy UAVs remained in the airspace.
- Separately, a Russian KAB strike on Izium, Kharkiv Oblast injured three people and damaged houses and cars; an attack on Kryvyi Rih, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast damaged infrastructure.
Why it matters
The salvo was one of the larger single-night drone strikes of the war, combining attack drones with Gerbera and Parodia decoys designed to overwhelm Ukrainian air defense. Roughly 79% of the launched UAVs were intercepted, but confirmed hits at seven separate locations indicate that defensive capacity is being stressed. The use of multiple drone types from several launch directions — Orel, Kursk, occupied Donetsk, and occupied Crimea — shows a diversified Russian launch geometry aimed at complicating interception.
What happened
On the night of September 14, Russian forces struck Ukraine with 108 strike UAVs, including Shahed-type drones (including jet-powered variants), Gerbera-type drones, and Parodia decoy drones. The drones were launched from Orel and Kursk in Russia and from the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk and Hvardiiske in Crimea. As of 08:00 on September 14, Ukrainian air defense had shot down or suppressed 85 of the enemy UAVs. Hits by enemy air attack means were recorded at seven locations. The air attack was repelled by aviation, anti-aircraft missile troops, electronic warfare and unmanned systems units, and mobile fire groups of the Defense Forces of Ukraine. As of the morning of September 14, the attack was still ongoing and enemy drones remained in Ukrainian airspace. Separately, a Russian KAB strike on Izium in Kharkiv Oblast injured three people and damaged houses and cars, and an attack on Kryvyi Rih in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast damaged infrastructure. All figures on downed drones and hit locations are preliminary as of 08:00.
Background
The information about the attack was reported by the command of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and the figures on downed drones and hit locations are preliminary as of 08:00. Drone salvos of this scale have become a recurring Russian tactic, typically mixed with decoy UAVs to complicate Ukrainian air-defense targeting.