Russia struck Ukraine with 172 drones from eight directions: air defense shot down 147 UAVs, casualties reported

Night attack from eight directions

In the night of September 21, starting from 18:00 on September 20, the Russian Armed Forces delivered a massive strike on Ukraine which, according to data from the Air Force of the Ukrainian Armed Forces reported by RBC-Ukraine, was launched simultaneously from eight directions. Strike drones flew over the country's territory for almost the entire night, and as of the morning of September 21, enemy drones were reportedly still in Ukrainian airspace, indicating the prolonged and multi-wave nature of the attack.

Scale and composition of the strike

According to the summary, the enemy deployed 172 strike drones of the Shahed and "Gerbera" types, of which 64 were jet-powered. In addition to the main strike drones, the Russians used "Parodia" decoy drones, as well as ballistic/missile systems "Bandierol" and "Dane-T." Such a composition of the attack is characteristic of a mixed-strike tactic, in which decoys and false targets are used to overload air defense channels and mask the real strike aircraft.

Air defense performance and recorded consequences

As of 08:00 on September 21, air defense systems shot down or suppressed 147 enemy drones — Shaheds, "Gerberas" and other types of drones — and also neutralized one "Bandierol"/"Dane-T" missile. Nevertheless, the attack did not go without consequences: Ukrainian military recorded hits from enemy aerial attack weapons at 14 locations, and debris from shot-down targets fell at 4 more locations. The difference between the number of weapons deployed and those shot down, as well as the presence of "hits," indicate that some of the strike weapons reached their target.

Casualties in Zaporizhzhia and Sumy

That same night, a strike was also delivered on Zaporizhzhia: there, reportedly, two multi-story residential buildings, a shopping center, an educational institution and a university building were damaged, and five people were injured. A separate incident occurred on the evening of September 20 in Sumy, where Russian drones attacked a residential building — as a result of the strike, a woman was killed and her 41-year-old husband was wounded. These episodes confirm that the night strike campaign affected both the southern and northern regions of Ukraine.

Contradictory data

In the selection of verification sources, direct confirmation of the facts about the night attack on Ukraine is provided only by RBC-Ukraine (citing the Air Force of the Ukrainian Armed Forces). The other materials found from the same date describe the opposite direction of events — the repelling of drone attacks on Russian regions (Volgograd Oblast, as well as reports of strikes toward Moscow), which are separate events of the same night and do not confirm, but also do not refute, the figures for Ukraine. Thus, the data on 172 drones, 147 shot-down UAVs and 14 hit locations currently rely on a single primary source, and independent re-verification on the Ukrainian side is absent in the provided selection.