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By Brendan Cole
Senior Reporter
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Russia has started launching Iranian-supplied unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) from a new site in occupied Crimea, posing a potential headache for Ukrainian air defenses, British defense officials have said.
Over the course of Russia's full-scale invasion, Moscow has launched Shahed-131 and 136 "kamikaze" drones at civilian infrastructure in Ukraine.
The Ukrainian Air Force said on Wednesday that overnight, Russian forces had attacked Ukrainian targets with 10 Shahed kamikaze drones launched from a district in Balaklava in the south of the peninsula.
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Ukraine said that it intercepted most of the devices in neighboring Odesa oblast and that Russia had also fired 10 ballistic missiles "but all were downed successfully."
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At 3 a.m. local time on Wednesday, " the enemy launched a missile attack on the capital of Ukraine," the air force said in a statement on Telegram, according to a translation. "All 10 targets flying in the direction of the city of Kyiv on a ballistic trajectory were shot down by an anti-aircraft missile unit of the Air Force."
"The type of missiles can be determined only after the wreckage has been studied," it added.
While air defenses shot down the missiles, fragments hit buildings in the capital causing fires and other damage and wounding 53 people. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said "there will be a response" to the attack.
Meanwhile, the British Defense Ministry warned that Russia's new launch site was a significant development. In its update on Wednesday, it said that Balaklava is now the fifth confirmed launch site being used by Russia—the others are in Cape Chauda, Yeysk, Primorsko, and Kursk.
The U.K. ministry said on Wednesday that Russia is highly likely to be dispersing its drone launch capabilities across several sites "as both a force protection measure and to complicate Ukrainian air defence efforts."
"Russia will likely use additional launch sites in response to Ukrainian attacks, forcing Ukraine to adapt to new transit corridors of these systems," it added. Newsweek has contacted the Ukrainian Defense Ministry for comment by email.
Kyiv is also reported to be using its own drones to step up attacks on Crimea with Russia saying on December 5 its air defenses had intercepted 41 Ukrainian drones targeting the peninsula illegally annexed by President Vladimir Putin in 2014.
Last month, Ukraine said that Russia had deployed upgraded versions of the Shahed drones, which are kitted out with material that absorbs radar signals. Ukrainian air force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat said that the devices are painted black which disguises them in the night sky.
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