Russia has launched 127 Shahed drones and 300 missiles at Ukraine since November 

This was reported by the spokesman of the Air Force Command of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Yurii Ihnat during a media briefing.

"In November and December alone, 127 Shahed and 300 cruise missiles were launched. On October 13 they launched the first one; it was shot down by the defense forces in Kupiansk. Then they began to launch them in stages, sending them in small groups in different directions, studying how Ukrainian air defense reacts, what means we use to shoot them down," explained Ihnat.

The Air Force spokesman added that Russian troops have started using a smaller version of the Shahed drones.

"First, there were Shahed-136 UAVs, and now they are also using Shahed-131, a smaller version. They mark the previous model as Geran-2, and this one as Geran-1. We are well aware that these are both Iranian drones. They do not grow any "geraniums"," he said. 

Yurii Ihnat added that Russian forces most often launch drones at night. And if they launch drones at 11:00 p.m., the air raid alert can last until 5 a.m.

"The Russian military has realized that it is most effective for them to launch Shaheds at night, because at night there is no visual reference to the targets, and the means that can destroy them, such as small arms, anti-aircraft guns, large-caliber machine guns, often used against these UAVs, are not so effective. If the UAV is launched at 11:00 p.m., an air raid alarm may last until 5 a.m. This is because a drone does not fly in a straight line. They can go around, circle, avoiding air defense systems, guided by different GPS navigators, and this already increases the raid alert duration. The average speed of a drone is 150 km per hour. This is the flight mission. There are certain counter-measures. All defense forces work in a single air defense system that tries to destroy as many of these UAVs as possible. These are visual observation points and acoustic systems that respond to sound, but the main detection is a radar. Radar and radio-technical troops work to detect drones and then destroy them by fire. As you can see, they do it quite well," Ihnat explained.

• On December 19, Russian troops launched 35 Shahed drones in Ukraine. This Russian ‘kamikaze’ drone attack was the largest to date.