Guides · Updated 2026-10-28

Airstrike, shelling, drone strike: attack types explained

Reports about attacks use technical words that are easy to mix up. The icons on our map follow the words used in the reports themselves, so understanding them helps you read both the map and the news. These terms describe the method, not who carried out the attack; we never show that.

Airstrike

Any attack delivered from the air by a crewed aircraft or an armed drone. Reports may add whether bombs or missiles were used, but in the first hours the type of aircraft is often unknown, and the same event can be called an airstrike, a bombing or an air raid by different outlets.

Shelling and artillery

Firing shells from guns, howitzers or mortars, usually from several kilometres away. Shelling is most common near front lines and towns close to them, and it is often repeated over days. Multiple rocket launchers fire many rockets at once over a wide area and are often reported as shelling too.

Missile strike

An attack with a guided missile, with ranges from tens to thousands of kilometres. Reports may distinguish ballistic missiles, which fly high and fall steeply, from cruise missiles, which fly low and steer around terrain. A missile strike far from the front line is often what triggers nationwide alerts.

Drone strike

“Drone” covers very different weapons: large armed drones that fire missiles and return, small one-way attack drones that crash into their target, and small commercial drones adapted to drop grenades. Air-raid alerts are often triggered by drones that are then intercepted, so an alert by itself does not mean anything was hit.

Interception and debris

When air defences destroy an incoming missile or drone in the air, the falling pieces can still start fires or break windows over a wide area. Phrases such as “damage from falling debris” therefore mean the weapon was reportedly stopped before reaching its target, not that the target was hit.

Ground fighting, raids and explosions

Clashes and battles describe fighting between forces on the ground. Raids are short incursions, after which the attacking force withdraws. “Explosion” is used when the cause is unknown; it may later turn out to be an attack, an accident, an old munition or a deliberate demolition.

Why first reports change

In the first hours, witnesses hear a blast but rarely see the weapon, and officials may describe the method to make a point. Wording often changes as more information arrives. Our icons follow the reports as they are updated, and an icon shown faded means only one outlet has reported the event so far. An attack-type icon appears only when two independent outlets describe the method the same way, so a missing icon often means the reports still disagree. See all icons in how the map works.