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Russia’s Drone Strikes Triple in Effectiveness, Ukrainian Officials Warn
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![Photo of Liubava Petriv]( "Photo of Liubava Petriv")
Russian drone attacks have become significantly more effective in recent months, according to a report by the Financial Times.
Ukrainian Air Force officials state that from April to June, around 15% of Russian drones managed to reach their targets—a sharp increase compared to just 5% in the first quarter of the year.
The report suggests that this marks a threefold rise in successful strikes, raising concerns about evolving Russian tactics and their impact on Ukraine’s air defense systems.
Expert interviewed by the Financial Times noted that Russia has been increasingly employing “swarm” tactics—launching large numbers of drones simultaneously, some of which may be decoys. Additionally, drones are now flying at higher altitudes, making them harder to neutralize with traditional machine gun fire.
“The problem is not [that] Ukraine air defence is getting worse. Instead, what we see is that new swarming tactics and drones are now flying in higher altitude, [which] makes them more effective,” said Yasir Atalan, of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, who has aggregated Ukraine’s dataset of Russian air attacks.
Increased domestic production of Shahed drones has further strengthened Russia’s capabilities. On July 9, Russian forces reportedly carried out a record-scale attack, launching 728 Shahed drones and decoys, along with seven Iskander cruise missiles and six Kinzhal air-launched ballistic missiles.
“The increase in sheer size in launches saturates the defence systems which increases the hit rate,” Atalan added.
Previously, Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov stated that Russia is expected to transition its Shahed drone fleet to jet engines in the near future, increasing their speed and reducing Ukraine’s interception window.
