Ukraine says it blocked 18 out of 38 Russian air attacks overnight

Russia launched 38 air attacks on southern Ukraine overnight into Thursday morning, including nearly two dozen cruise missiles and kamikaze drones combined, according to a statement from the Ukrainian Air Force.

Russian forces attacked “ports, piers, residential buildings and retail chains” in the southern cities of Odesa and Mykolaiv, it added.

Ukraine's air defense destroyed 18 of the projectiles, it said, including 13 Shahed drones, two sea-launched Kalibr cruise missiles and three Iskander-K land-based cruise missiles, according to the statement.

The Ukrainian Air Force claimed Russian forces fired seven Oniks cruise missiles from the Bastion coastal missile system in Crimea, four Kh-22 air-launched cruise missiles from eight Tu-22M3 aircraft, three sea-launched Kalibr cruise missiles “allegedly from a submarine” in the Black Sea and five Iskander-K land-launched cruise missiles from Crimea.

The Ukrainian Air Force also said Russia launched 19 Shahed-136/131 attack drones from Crimea and Kursk. 

The Ukrainian Air Force also said it carried out more than 20 air strikes on "objects, places of concentration of equipment and personnel of the Russian occupiers” in recent days, the statement said.