The overwhelming majority of Russian cruise missiles during Russia's attack on the night of 22-23 December were intercepted by pilots of F-16 fighter jets.
The Air Force stresses that missiles for air defence systems and air-to-air missiles supplied by partners are not arriving in the quantities Ukraine needs to counter Russian aggression.
Quote: "You can see the extremely high effectiveness of air defence operations, because the Kinzhal missiles, although not intercepted by Patriots, did not reach their targets.
Out of 35 cruise missiles, 34 were shot down, mainly by F-16 aircraft intercepting these missiles, for which we thank our brave pilots.".
Details: Ihnat stressed that both aviation air-to-air and air defence systems missiles are currently a rather scarce commodity for the Air Force.
On the night of 22-23 December, Russian troops conducted a combined strike on Ukraine's critical infrastructure, using a total of 673 attack UAVs and air- and ground-launched missiles.
As of 11:30, the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that air defence had shot down or jammed 621 Russian aerial targets . »