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What the January 2024 strikes showed about air defence
Summary
A look back at a Russian missile and drone barrage and the attack on Pokrovsk Raion two days earlier.
What did the Russian strikes of 8 January 2024 reveal about the air war? Russia launched a large missile and drone attack across Ukraine, killing at least four people and injuring 38 others in Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Khmelnytskyi and Zaporizhzhia Oblasts.
Ukraine said it shot down all eight drones and 18 of 51 missiles. Put another way, 33 of the missiles were not reported intercepted, and the casualties fell across four regions far apart from one another. The attack was aimed at Ukrainian infrastructure, and it reached well beyond the front line.
Two days earlier, on 6 January 2024, Russian forces attacked Pokrovsk Raion in Donetsk Oblast with S-300 missiles, according to local authorities. At least 11 people were killed, including five children, and eight others were injured.
Taken together, the two attacks within three days showed pressure on civilians both near the front and deep in the country. The interception figures for 8 January showed a clear contrast: drones were stopped, but missiles were far harder to stop.
