Russia fires barrage of 40 missiles, drones on Ukraine, alleges Kyiv

A barrage of 40 missiles and drones were unleashed upon Ukraine by Russia overnight on Saturday, in the fourth such attack since December 29, CNN reported.

This attack has come amid concerns that Moscow is trying to overwhelm Ukraine's air defence.

The Russian assault was comprised of 40 attack weapons, including cruise, aeroballistic, ballistic, aircraft, anti-aircraft guided missiles as well as strike UAVs, according to the Ukrainian Air Force.

The Ukrainian air force said that it managed to take down eight missiles, adding that "over 20 launched air attack weapons did not reach their targets due to extensive electronic warfare countermeasures."

Air raid warnings and defences were activated across the country. There were impacts in several regions, including the city of Chernihiv in northern Ukraine and Dnipro in the east, according to CNN.

According to the police, the missile fragments caused damage to unoccupied civilian residential buildings in Chernihiv city.

"The fragments of an enemy missile caused destruction in the private residential area of Chernihiv. Luckily, no people were injured", the police wrote on Telegram.

The area was previously damaged, which is why there were no civilian casualties, the local mayor said. In Dnipro, there were incoming hits in the city, according to the head of Dnipropetrovsk region military administration, Serhii Lysak.

"We are now establishing the extent of the damage caused by the strikes. However, people are always the priority. Luckily, everyone is safe", Lysak wrote on Telegram.

Notably, Saturday's attacks are the fourth largest since Russia started large countrywide barrages on December 29, CNN reported.

The analysts said that the recent onslaught of Russian missiles aims to overload Ukraine's limited missile defence.

In a previous attack on January 7, Ukraine was only able to shoot down on 18 out of the 59 missiles launched.

The Russian army has also been using new tactics as part of its aerial campaign, such as painting its Iranian-made drones black, camouflaging them against the night sky, as reported by CNN.

Another tactic, is to move engine exhausts on some drones from the rear to the front, in an effort to confuse anti-air batteries using thermal sights.

Earlier on Friday, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said during a press conference with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak that the country is far from having comprehensive air cover.

"We lack Patriot systems, and we lack appropriate systems of different ranges. It is coming little by little. Something is on its way. We have agreed on something new. However, we still lack appropriate systems that fight against ballistic missiles especially, for instance," Zelensky said.

Meanwhile, Ukraine has been relying on mobile firing groups for air defenses to shoot down drones as anti-air missile stocks run low, CNN reported.

"They are now the backbone unit that destroys enemy UAVs. We are counting on them so that we can save guided anti-aircraft missiles, which are quite scarce for us under such massive attacks," Air Force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat said after a barrage of 29 Iranian Shahed UAVs were launched across the country last week.