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Another night, another Ukrainian city under attack
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This, the smoldering aftermath of a Shah-head drone strike on Kharkiv. Russia has recently rumped up the number of these cheap kamikaze drones
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It fires its cities across Ukraine every night. Trying to shoot them down across vast swathes of territory
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is the increasingly difficult mission of Ukraine's Air Force. It's just before dusk and an air defense unit is setting off to work
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Every night they head out in small teams to try and intercept incoming missile and drone attacks
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The Russians are sending way more drones than they used to. For every ten they used to launch, now they launch 80
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This unit is equipped. with American weapons, notably this Avengers surface-to-air missile system, provided by
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the US in 2022 as part of a $400 million military aid package. They rely on the American
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military for maintenance and supply If something breaks then well yes we depend on them for repairs and equipment And here the Avenger in action shooting down Ashahed
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Since the start of its full-scale invasion, Russia has fired more than 22,000 drones at Ukraine
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according to the Air Force here, and they say 17,000 were intercepted
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In the past month, this unit tells us they've shot down 10 kamikaze drones, largely thanks to the Avengers
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It's very useful for the moment. It's a very highly mobile vehicle which can move from one place to another very fast
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and get right to where we need to be on incoming targets
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Every night as the sun goes down, Russia sends dozens of attack drones into the skies across Ukraine
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And this American-made and donated equipment is crucial to saving lives in Ukrainian cities
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As tough negotiations continue, it's on shore how long Ukraine will be able to depend on American equipment like this
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Given that Vladimir Putin has demanded an end to all foreign military. create
