Russian troops keep using Iranian-made kamikaze drones against targets across Ukraine, but Ukraine's Armed Forces got increasingly better at shooting them down, the U.K. Defense Ministry reported on Oct. 24.
"Russia is likely expending a high number of Iranian Shahed-136 UAVs to penetrate increasingly effective Ukrainian air defenses... using them as a substitute for Russian-manufactured long-range precision weapons," reads the report.
As Shahed-136 drones are "slow, noisy and fly at low altitudes," Ukraine manages to intercept up to 85% of the attacks, according to the U.K. Defense Ministry.
Kyrylo Budanov, Ukraine's intelligence chief, told Ukrainska Pravda that, as of Oct. 22, Russian forces have launched about 330 Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones, of which 222 were shot down.
