Ukraine’s air defense forces shot down 15 Russian drones during an attack on Friday night, the Kiev Air Force said.

Egypt said 17 Iranian-made Shahed drones were used in the airstrike, but did not provide details on the fate of the other two planes.

Russian forces “launched an attack from the north with Shahed 131/136 attack aircraft,” the Air Force wrote in “Telegram”: “A total of 17 attack sorties were launched from the Kursk region.” He also stressed on implementing its security in “northern and central regions and western regions”.

The source added, “15 enemy helicopters were destroyed by the forces and means of the Air Force, in cooperation with the air defense systems of other elements of the Ukrainian Defense Forces.”

Both sides of the conflict, which has been ongoing since February 2022, have recently declared repeated air and sea violations, while Ukraine is launching a counteroffensive aimed at recapturing Russian-held territory.

Moscow has stepped up attacks on port infrastructure on the Black Sea and Danube since withdrawing from an agreement to allow safe exports of Ukrainian grain.
Russia announced on Friday that its forces had destroyed a Ukrainian convoy targeting Moscow and the Black Sea Fleet.

On the front line, Ukrainian forces moved into the eastern part of the Russian-occupied Kherson region and took positions there, confirmed by a Russian-appointed governor.

On Friday, the United States told Denmark and the Netherlands it could provide F-16s to Ukraine while they train them for use, a decision Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov welcomed as “wonderful news.”