On Saturday, 17 May, Russia launched Shahed kamikaze drones against Ukraine in broad daylight for the first time.
This was reported by the Air Force Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The attack began at around 3:47 p.m. – the strike drones were launched from the south towards the Zaporizhzhia region, after which they headed for the Dnipropetrovsk region. Half an hour later, groups of ‘Shaheds’ were spotted in the west of the Donetsk region and in the east of the Dnipropetrovsk region, from where they moved towards the Kharkiv region.
At the same time, Russian UAVs were launched from the Belgorod region towards the south of the Sumy region. As of 16:45, the drones were on the border of the Sumy and Kharkiv regions, heading towards the Poltava region, as well as in the centre of the Kharkiv region, heading south-east.
At 17:28, a new wave of launches was recorded from the Belgorod region — the drones were moving south of the Sumy region and north of the Kharkiv region. Some of the Shaheds were heading towards Kharkiv.
By 18:08, enemy drones were approaching Kharkiv and Poltava. As of 18:29, several groups of Shaheds were over the Kharkiv, Poltava, Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions, changing their direction of movement.
At 18:58, the Air Force reported another wave of launches from the Belgorod region towards the Sumy and Kharkiv regions.
At 19:32, a new group of UAVs was detected from the Kursk region of Russia, heading north towards Sumy.
The attack is ongoing, and there is no information about its consequences yet.