Russia has been hit by 25 drone attacks this month alone, the U.K. Defense Ministry reported in its intelligence update on Aug. 31.
The fact that many drones have struck their targets means that Russian air defense "is having difficulty detecting and destroying them," leading Moscow to rethink how to deal with these attacks.
The U.K. intelligence update also confirmed that the overnight drone strike on Aug. 29-30 was "the largest attack on Russia since the start of the conflict."
The Defense Ministry assessed that there were as many as five separate strikes by kamikaze attack drones that night, with explosions recorded in Moscow, Bryansk, Ryazan, and Pskov, where four military transport planes were destroyed.
Previous strikes against Russian military airbases have led the Russian military to disperse its aircraft, the U.K. ministry said.
However, the strike on Pskov airport, which is 800 kilometers from Kyiv, demonstrates that targets across western Russia are in reach of drone attacks, "making further dispersal more challenging," the intelligence update assessed.
Earlier in August, a Russian strategic bomber was reportedly destroyed at Soltsy airbase in Novgorod Oblast, 650 kilometers from Ukraine's border.
The U.K. Defense Ministry said on Aug. 22 that the strike "adds weight to the assessment" that some attacks are launched from within Russian territory, and noted that the successful attacks deep within Russia raise questions about the country's ability to protect strategic locations.
Asami Terajima
(Updated: )
