Russia is pounding Ukraine with jet-propelled drones capable of flying nearly twice as fast as older models and launched in quantities intended to overwhelm air defenses, forcing Kyiv to adapt once again in a high-tech arms race that is increasingly defining the war.
Russia launched more than 2,800 of the weapons on Ukraine in August, according to Ukrainian officials. They think Moscow can produce tens of thousands of them per year.
Residents of Kyiv and other cities have grown familiar with hours-long nighttime air raids. Continuous daytime alerts over the past week have brought the capital to a standstill.
Jet-propelled drones now account for more than half of the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) Russia is launching to “wear down” Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky said. “There were almost 1,500 drones of all types in these four days alone — about 800 of them jet-powered,” he said Sunday.
The Geran-4 and Geran-5 models, developed from Iranian Shahed drones, can reach speeds of up to 250 mph. At times, Ukrainian forces have scrambled combat aircraft to try to repel them.
The increasingly prominent role of these drones highlights the importance of Russia’s alliance with Iran, which Russian President Vladimir Putin highlighted during a meeting with Iranian President President Masoud Pezeshkian on Tuesday.
In perhaps the most dramatic recent attack, a Russian Geran-4 drone struck a munitions warehouse Friday in Myla, a village outside Kyiv, setting off a chain of explosions over several hours that the Security Service of Ukraine said killed at least 38 people. It was the deadliest attack on the country this year.
Russia can produce about 3,000 of the new drones per month, according to Serhiy Beskrestnov, an adviser to Zelensky on defense technology.
“Last month, according to our statistics, there were 1,500 jet UAV attacks,” Beskrestnov said. “This month, we’ve already counted 3,000 jet drones. Based on our intelligence data, the Russians have plans to produce 36,000 to 40,000 UAVs per year — that is, more than 3,000 per month. It’s safe to say they have already reached that production capacity.”
Beskrestnov predicted that Russia would keep producing gasoline-powered drones. Jet-propelled models will make up roughly 60 percent of output, he said. The rest will be older types such as the Shahed-136 and Geran-2.
Each side in recent months has stepped up aerial strikes deep into the other’s territory while the ground war has largely stalled.
Ukraine continues to hit Russian oil refineries, twice causing fuel shortages, and has extended its campaign against major Russian online retailers with strikes on Ozon warehouses. By the end of August, an estimated 6 percent of the company’s warehouse capacity had been wiped out, according to local business outlets.
Russia is firing a mix of drones and ballistic missiles. Russian forces have struck warehouses around Kyiv, threatening food shortages as shelves empty out in some supermarkets.
The Russian military blog Rybar, run by Mikhail Zvinchuk, who formerly worked in the Russian Defense Ministry’s press service, says such strikes have “once again highlighted a critical issue facing Ukraine: The Armed Forces of Ukraine have reached a breaking point regarding their shortage of surface-to-air missiles.”
“Missiles are more expensive and complex to manufacture, making their daily use unfeasible,” one post read. “Geran drones, however, offer an immediate operational advantage.
“Looking long term, with the potential for production and launch capacities up to 5,000 units per month, they can be used to exacerbate the air defense shortages and intensify strikes on Ukrainian territory.”
Ukraine has significantly improved its ability to shoot down drones and has ramped up its own long-range drone production capacity, but its shortage of air defense missiles remains a persistent vulnerability — and a consistent advantage for Moscow.
Zelensky has been urging President Donald Trump to send more Patriot missiles, which Ukraine says are the only interceptors capable of reliably stopping Russia’s ballistic missiles.
Ballistic missiles are far more expensive to build than drones, but they can inflict much more damage and penetrate heavily defended or underground sites.
Patriot stocks have been depleted in part by the U.S. war on Iran and by multiple countries competing for the limited supply.
Zelensky has asked to buy additional interceptors and pressed Trump and Congress for more supplies. He said last month that Ukraine needs 5 percent of U.S. Patriot production to defend itself but has only been receiving 1 percent.
Zelensky and Trump worked out licensing that would allow Ukraine to eventually build Patriot interceptors domestically. The leaders appeared together at a NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, in July. “We’ll give them the right to make Patriots,” Trump told reporters. “We’ll show them how to do it.”
However, later that month he backtracked, saying the advanced technology was “a hard thing to give away.”
Ukraine has recently received a small number of Patriot interceptors, Zelensky said. He did not reveal how many had arrived or who had supplied them.
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