Ukraine’s military said it shot down 13 “kamikaze” drones over the southern Mykolaiv region overnight, according to a statement on Telegram Wednesday.
“During the night of October 18-19, the enemy attacked the Mykolaiv region twice with ‘Shahed-136’ kamikaze drones,” the Armed Forces statement read. “Eleven were shot down by the air defense of air command “South”, two more — by soldiers of the National Guard of Ukraine and the State Border Service of Ukraine.”
In an earlier post, the military said 12 drones in total had been taken out.
CNN cannot independently confirm the Ukrainian military’s claims.
Ukraine has been facing a wide assault on critical infrastructure and power sources this week involving drones and cruise missiles.
What are “kamikaze” drones? Unlike more traditional, larger and faster military drones that return to base after dropping missiles, “kamikaze” drones are designed to crash into a target and explode, detonating their warhead and destroying the drones in the process.
The Ukrainian military and US intelligence say Russia is using Iranian-made attack drones. US officials told CNN in July that Iran had begun showcasing Shahed series drones to Russia at Kashan Airfield south of Tehran the previous month.
In August, US officials said Russia had bought these drones and was training its forces how to use them. According to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, Russia has ordered 2,400 Shahed-136 drones from Iran.
