Russia attacked Ukraine in July with five times as many jet-powered Shahed loitering munitions as it did in June, according to Ukraine’s air force.
The monthly surge points to how Moscow has sharply increased mass production of the advanced attack drones, which fly much higher and faster than their propeller-only predecessors.
Yuriy Ignat, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian air force, cited the fivefold increase while speaking on local television on Monday.
“Understanding that Ukraine’s defense forces are already highly effective at shooting down Shaheds, the enemy has increased its use of a more complex and faster weapon, which accordingly requires ground- and air-based air-defense assets, including aircraft,” he said.
Ignat added that statistics from August would likely show a continued increase in the number of jet-powered drones.
Russian Shaheds, called Gerans, are local versions of Iranian attack drones that the Kremlin has tweaked and built domestically for the war. Until recently, the Kremlin most commonly deployed the Geran-2, a delta-wing drone that used a propeller to reach speeds of around 115 mph.
Launched in hundreds-strong waves, they began overwhelming Ukrainian missile-based air defenses in 2025, prompting Kyiv’s troops to design cheap quadcopters capable of intercepting the Geran-2. By early 2026, Ukraine reported destroying roughly 90% of Russian drones.
But newer drones, namely the Geran-3s and Geran-4s, use turbojets that allow them to fly at typical speeds of 200 mph or higher, making them incredibly difficult for most Ukrainian interceptor drones to catch.
Jet-powered Shaheds also fly at higher altitudes of up to 30,000 feet, out of range of Ukrainian ground teams using truck-mounted machine guns and shoulder-launched anti-air missiles to down the drones.
Thousands of jet-powered drones launched
The turbojet drones are steadily becoming a core element of Moscow’s air attacks. While Geran-3s were a rare sight in the middle of 2025, Ukrainian officials said in mid-August this year that jet-powered drones accounted for up to two-thirds of Russia’s long-range attacks.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his evening address on Saturday that Russia had launched 800 jet-powered drones in just four days, out of a total of 1,500 long-range drones.
And Serhii “Flash” Beskrestnov, a renowned drone expert who previously advised Ukraine’s defense ministry, said on Saturday that Russia had launched over 2,500 jet-powered drones in August alone, up from 1,500 in July.
“Jet-powered Shaheds are being launched at Ukraine virtually straight from the factory,” he wrote in a social media post.
Zelenskyy said Ukraine has been working on interceptors capable of taking down jet-powered Shaheds, adding that four companies had already developed such technology.
Meanwhile, Ukraine faces a tandem threat in the S8000 Banderol, a low-cost, jet-powered hybrid weapon built with commercial parts and often described as a mix of a cruise missile and an attack drone.
Ukrainian reports say the Banderol can travel at speeds of over 400 mph and carry a 114-kg explosive warhead over 300 miles. While cruise missiles are often launched from strategic bombers that can telegraph an attack when they take off, Russia has primarily launched the Banderol from reconnaissance drones and helicopters.
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