Russia launches rare daytime mass drone attack on Ukraine, around 200 already reportedly shot down

War Russia launches rare daytime mass drone attack on Ukraine, around 200 already reportedly shot down March 24, 2026 3:38 pm • 2 min read Prefer on Google by Yuliia Taradiuk Russia on March 24 launched a rare daytime mass drone attack on Ukraine, with hundreds of kamikaze drones targeting Kyiv. Ukraine's Air Force reported at 11:07 a.m., 11:45 a.m., 12:36 p.m. that drones were flying towards Kyiv Oblast and the city of Kyiv from the northern direction. At 12:35 p.m. an air alert was announced in Kyiv, according to the Kyiv City State Administration. At 2:23 p.m., the Air Force said that the attack continues with "a large number of Russian drones" flying over the Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Poltava, Vinnytsia, Cherkasy, Kirovohrad, Kherson, and Dnipropetrovsk oblasts. "The attack on Ukraine is ongoing. I suppose we will see some more missiles today,"‌‌ Ukraine's Defense Ministry advisor Serhii Flash, said, adding that Russia is constantly changing its tactics for massive strikes, "trying to find vulnerabilities," and break through Ukraine's air defenses. Become a member – go ad‑free "The current strategy is to launch strikes spread out over time," he wrote on Facebook. Monitoring channel, Kyivske nebo (the sky of Kyiv) said that as of 1:58 p.m. "possibly 200 drones" had been shot down. Kyiv city authorities have not reported damage or casualties as a result of the attack so far, though monitoring channels reported several drones flying over different districts of the capital. Just hours earlier, Russia launched a large-scale missile and drone attack on multiple Ukrainian cities, killing at least four people and injuring 21 others, local officials reported. Become a member – go ad‑free Air raid alerts were issued in nearly all of Ukraine's oblasts overnight, with Russian drones targeting various regions of the country — including reports of drones flying in the country's far-western regions. Explosions rang out in Kyiv amid a drone attack on the capital. Kyiv Independent ...