There is this specific kind of a massive missile attack that russia does every other day.
It always happens in the middle of the night, to make sure everyone is exhausted. It is happening right now when I’m writing this.
First, russians launch a wave after wave of iranian-made Shahed drones. If the drones enter your region, you must wake up your kids and pets and go to a bomb shelter with them.
There are usually a few dozens of these drones launched. These days, Ukrainian air defence usually can strike down most of the drones (not all of them). However, even if the air defence works successfully, parts of the drones might fall on buildings and kill someone.
Second, you get a message: “xxx russian Tu-95 airplanes took off from the Olenya airport”. This usually happens around 11pm-12am.
I fucking hate this Olenya. I wish we could burn it down with the airplanes but some of our foreign partners either don’t provide us with weapons that could reach russia, or just forbid us from using their weapons on russian territory.
Third, if there are no drones in your region (for now), you might get a little bit of sleep. Meanwhile, the Tu-95 airplanes fly to the missile launching sites.
Fourth, the Tu-95s launch their missiles. This usually happens around 2:30-3:30 am. The drones are usually still flying around.
Fifth, the missiles enter Ukrainian airspace. This usually happens around 3:30-4:30 am. This is when Ukrainian air defence begins to shoot down the missiles - sometimes successfully, other times not because our air defence still needs more aid. At this time, you must go to a bomb shelter if you’re not there already.
This part of the attack might be happening for a few hours, depending on the number of missiles launched.
Around 5-6 am a russian Mig-31k airplane (or airplanes, if they feel like it) might take off somewhere in russia. This airplane carries cruise missiles which are hard to destroy with Ukrainian air defence. Sometimes it launches the missiles, sometimes it just flies around to annoy Ukrainians. When these airplanes are in the air, we always get a nation-wide air alert.
These huge attacks are usually over around 6-7 am. If you were in the shelter, you probably haven’t gotten any sleep, and you probably need to work/study right now. Coffee sales are usually up on such mornings.
When the huge nation-wide alert is over, it doesn’t mean the danger has fully passed.
For example, many communities in the Sumy region are getting shelled every day, with civilian casualties all the time. The region is bordering russia, so it can be shelled with artillery.
Almost every day explosions sound in places more or less close to the frontline or the border, such as Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro regions. There are casualties, and of course they are civilians.
And of course there is the Kharkiv region. The region is bordering russia, so it was never safe, getting bombed every other day.
If you’re following the news about russian-Ukrainian war closely, you might know about the new russian offensive in Kharkiv. They are actively trying to occupy parts of the region at the moment, so the whole region is in extra danger these days. russians being russians, they keep striking places with a big number of civilians, such as a hypermarket or a printing house.
There are also Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Parts of these two regions were occupied since 2014, some parts were occupied after 2022. The rest is pretty much a 24/7 battlefield. The air alert in Luhansk region hasn’t been turned off since 2022.
Now, if you’d like to support Ukraine:
- Come Back Alive foundation (military aid)
- Prytula foundation (military + humanitarian)
- Hospitalliers (medical aid)
- United24 (military + humanitarian aid, organised by our government)
Please donate here. Even $1 helps a lot!
Also, yes, all of this organisations are perfectly legit, they report every cent they receive and I have donated there myself