Russia plans to launch at least 500 drones per aerial attack against Ukraine, Vadym Skibitskyi, the deputy head of Ukraine's military intelligence agency (HUR), said in an interview with RBC Ukraine published on March 3.
Both Ukraine and Russia have heavily invested in drone technology throughout the war, significantly altering modern warfare tactics. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Russia has launched thousands of cheap but effective drones at Ukraine.
Russia currently uses 150 to 200 drones per attack against Ukraine which occur on a daily basis, but Russian forces plan to increase their capabilities to 500, Skibitskyi told RBC Ukraine. Russia also plans to increase the number of sites from which drones will be launched.
Russian forces have significantly increased domestic production of various types of drones, according to Skibitskyi. Russia uses combat and reconnaissance drones, as well as so-called "decoys," which are drones without a payload, he added.
"All of this simply overloads our air defense system. It is very difficult to distinguish between a drone flying with a warhead and one without," Skibitskyi said.
"Earlier, in 2023 and early 2024, we knew only a Shahed (drone), then there were Geran-1, Geran-2, and that was it. Today, the range of these unmanned aerial vehicles is so large that it is not even always possible to count them on one hand," Skibitsky added.
Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said on Feb. 6. Russia is forming unmanned systems forces and plans to recruit up to 210,000 personnel for the new branch by 2030.
Ukraine, as well as Russia, has continuously expanded its drone capabilities, using aerial, naval, and ground-based systems for reconnaissance, precision strikes, and other operations.
The country's Unmanned Systems Forces announced on Jan. 31 that Ukrainian troops are now employing a long-range drone capable of traveling up to 2,000 kilometers (1,242 miles) while carrying a 250-kilogram air bomb.
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