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On Tuesday, March 24, Ukraine repelled the largest daytime aerial assault since the start of the full-scale war, destroying or suppressing 94.6% of incoming targets, according to the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine.
The massive drone wave was preceded by a combined strike involving ballistic and cruise missiles, followed by large-scale use of attack UAVs. In total, Russia launched 999 Shahed-type drones over the course of the day.
Kyiv region: unprecedented concentration
The ministry highlighted that around 250 drones were deployed over the Kyiv region alone.
“Just a year ago, this number would have been used for a mass attack across the entire country. Yesterday, they were fully neutralized within a single region. No aerial targets were recorded over Kyiv — except a flock of birds,” the statement said.
Tactics: overwhelming air defense
Russia continues to deploy a mix of weapons at varying altitudes and speeds to overload Ukraine’s air defense systems.
In response, Ukraine has developed a layered (multi-echelon) air defense system, integrating:
- Air Force units
- interceptor drones
- mobile fire groups
- tactical aviation and helicopters
The ministry stressed that Ukraine is now conducting large-scale комплексні air defense operations with no global analogues.
Shifting targets
Officials note that due to improved protection of major cities, Russia is increasingly shifting strikes toward civilian infrastructure in western Ukraine.
Recent attacks, including drone strikes on Lviv, damaged residential buildings and sites within protected cultural heritage zones.
Bottom line
Despite the unprecedented scale of the attack, Ukraine’s air defense demonstrated high effectiveness. However, the volume of drones underscores Russia’s strategy of attrition — aiming to exhaust air defense resources rather than achieve immediate large-scale destruction.
