Russian cruise missile attack repelled, says Ukrainian air force

Four missiles were downed early on Sunday without causing serious injuries or damage

A destroyed house after a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine on August 27, 2023. Reuters

Four cruise missiles launched from Russian strategic bombers and heading towards Kyiv were repelled overnight, the Ukrainian air force said.

The missiles were downed without causing serious injuries or extensive damage, according to military authorities in the Ukrainian capital.

The defence ministry in Moscow said an apartment block in the Russian city of Kursk was hit by a drone overnight, causing some damage. A second drone was shot down over another Russian city, Bryansk, about 200km north-west of Kursk.

Training exercise crash

On Friday, three Ukrainian military pilots, including Andrii Pilshchykov, a flying ace known by the call sign “Juice,” were killed in a mid-air collision during a training exercise, Ukraine's defence ministry said.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Pilshchykov was “one of those who helped our country a lot”.

An investigation has been launched into the crash, which happened as Ukrainian pilots prepared to start training on advanced F-16 jet fighters.

Ukraine's Air Force spokesman Yuri Ihnat told local Ukrainian television on Sunday it wasn't clear how long the investigation would take.

Over the past week, Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands have pledged to donate F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine.

The Pentagon said on Thursday that the US would begin training Ukrainian pilots on F-16s as soon as October.