Ukraine downs five Russia-launched drones during overnight attack, air force says

KYIV (Reuters) -Ukraine shot down all five Russia-launched drones during an overnight attack, the country’s air force said on Friday.

Russian forces also used three ballistic Iskander-M missiles during the attack, according to the air force’s statement on the Telegram messaging app.

Russia used three Shahed-type drones and two drones of an unidentified type for the attack, it said.

Reuters previously reported that Russia turned to using cheaply-made drones in some of its attacks on Ukraine to try to identify air defences and act as decoys.

The governors of Kyiv and Kirovohrad regions reported no damage or casualties following the attack.

Air defence worked in the capital Kyiv overnight with no damage reported by the city’s authorities.

On Thursday, the military turned on the air alerts four times to notify the city’s residents about possible attacks.

The air alert has come on over 1,200 times in Kyiv since the start of the full-scale invasion, authorities said on Friday.

(Reporting by Anastasiia Malenko; Editing by Jamie Freed and Christina Fincher)