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War in Ukraine

Russia Unleashes Another New Variant of Shahed-136 Drone Onto Ukraine

Remains of Shahed 136 at an exhibition showing remains of missiles and drones that Russia used to attack Kyiv on May 12, 2023 in Kyiv, Ukraine.

A fourth variant of the Shahed-136 drone was discovered after another recent attack on Ukraine. Moscow continues to increase its drone attacks against civilian infrastructure. President Zelenskyy vows to make the up-and-coming year of 2025, unprecedented in terms of drone production.

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Jess Daly
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Ukrainian air defense units shot down another variant of the Shahed-136 strike drone during an attack by Russia on January 18th, 2025. The drone has new markings not yet seen before on its airframe, according to military analysts, Defense Express.

This unmanned areal vehicle (UAV) is marked  “Ъ-series*”  with a serial number exceeding 200, indicating that the quantity of this type produced, there is no further information about this latest variant of drone, Defense Express reported. 

Fragment of a downed Shahed drone from the new 'Ъ' series, intercepted by Ukrainian forces. (Source: Defence Express)
Fragment of a downed Shahed drone from the new 'Ъ' series, intercepted by Ukrainian forces. (Source: Defence Express)

The latest discovery of Ъ-series UAV is the fourth known variant of the Shahed. Other versions include;

  • M’ series – the initial version deployed.

  • ‘Ы’ series – widely used and featuring several upgrades. Reports suggest that as of December 2024, Russian production rates for this series reached up to 2,000 units per month, potentially yielding an annual output of approximately 10,000 drones.

  • ‘К’ series – featuring significant design changes, incorporating more Russian-manufactured components.

HESA Shahed-136 drone is an Iranian loitering munition that targets stationary objects and is used almost every day to strike Ukrainian civilian, residential, and energy infrastructure. 

Since the full-scale invasion began, there has been a steady increase in the amount of drones used to attack Ukraine. In November 2024, 2500 Shahed-type drones were used against Ukraine, according to US-based military experts at Breaking Defense. 

Drones are changing the way the world wages war

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is widely acknowledged as the world’s first large-scale drone war. UAVs have changed the way that the world will fight wars in the future. Cheap and effective, drones are a key element to Russia’s attack on Ukraine. 

Over this last week alone, Russian forces launched approximately 550 strike drones at Ukraine.

Many Shahed-136 drones have been found to use Western components in their production. On the night of the 4th to 5th of January 2025, “103 Shahed-type drones launched against Ukraine contained 8,755 foreign-made components,” President Zelenskyy said. 

War Sanctions, a database portal has published a list of foreign-produced components used in Russian drones and other weapons.

Russia produces nearly 4,000 first-person-view (FPV) UAVs per day, Russian Minister of Defence Andrei Belousov claimed on 30 July 2024. It’s unknown how many drones Russia has in total. Russia’s allies in their “axis of evil” continue their supply to Moscow with drones, and often new drones are being discovered. However, there are some UAVs from Russia’s fleet that are used more frequently in their attack on Ukraine. 

  • Gerbera – or Herbera, is a strike drone, used for reconnaissance and in particular, to detect air defense positions. It’s made from cheap materials like plywood and foam making it approximately 10 times cheaper than the Shahed, which it’s used to imitate.

  • Parodiya –  is a decoy of the Shahed-136. It does not have a warhead, instead, it has a 3D-printed ball wrapped in foil which imitates the Shaheds warhead intended for spoofing Ukrainian radar. They account for up to 50% of drone swarms Russia launches on Ukraine to divert Ukrainian air defense.

  • Molniya – is constructed from simple materials such as plywood and plastic, with a range of up to 40 kilometers, carrying a warhead containing 3 to 5 kilograms of explosives making it less destructive than the Shahed-136. However, has still been used many times to attack civilian infrastructure.

  • Orlan – Russia uses both variants of the Orlan-10 & 30 reconaissance UAVs. Orlan-10 directed around 20,000 Russian artillery shells fired on Ukrainian positions in 2022, killing up to 100 soldiers per day. Though the Orlan is a major threat to Ukraine, their air defense forces’ increasing combat precision has been successful in downing an Orlan at record height.

  • Zala Lancet – a loitering munition designed for long-range precision strikes on military assets. Zala UAV is used for reconnaissance and guides the Lancet to its target, in a hunter-killer-style duo. However, Ukraine’s FPV interceptor drones have significantly reduced Lancet attacks from 180 in August 2024, to 24 in November.

What does drone warfare look like for Ukraine in 2025?

Throughout the full-scale invasion, Ukraine and its allies have heavily invested in and revolutionized drone technology providing fighting capabilities previously not seen in modern combat. Ukraine continues to create new innovative UAVs, such as a recent 'Mother Drone' capable of carrying and deploying six FPV drones beyond Russian lines.

Ukraine has emerged as a global leader in drone innovation, becoming the first country to establish a dedicated “Unmanned Systems Forces” drone branch within its Armed Forces.

Ukraine has a rapidly expanding ecosystem of Ukrainian defense tech companies, creating a free market for weapons production to out-innovate Russia. Western allies continue to support Ukraine in drone manufacturing and production. Recently, a US-based defense technology company specializing in drone manufacturing opened an office in Kyiv.

In October 2024, President Zelenskyy announced that Ukraine would produce up to 4 million drones a year. It's estimated that Ukraine now has up to 100 different types of drones, and they’re testing the most advanced developments in action. Some of Ukraine’s drone units have conducted historical combat missions. 

At the end of 2024, Ukraine’s 13th National Guard Khartia Brigade conducted a historical operation, the first-ever assault conducted exclusively with ground and aerial drones. 

Khartia took Russian Forces by surprise along the Russian border by conducting their assault only with robotic platforms. “They were in a panic”, Shuhai, S3 officer commander of the brigade’s headquarters told UNITED24 Media. They created conditions for further advancement of Ukrainian troops, forced Russian troops to regroup their troops, and destroyed military assets. 

Several dozen complexes of various types of drones were used during the operation, all manufactured in Ukraine. From smaller UAVs to some weighing over 1000lbs including; ground and aerial strike drones, ground drones with machine gun turrets, heavy bombers, and reconnaissance and surveillance drones. 

“Each component played its role in making the day of the occupiers much worse, and this made me happy” Pan, chief sergeant of the UGV platoon told us. Drones are easily replaceable and cheap to produce, “if a human is lost, this is an irreparable tragedy” he followed. 

On January 11, 2025, Zelenskyy emphasized the goal of making the upcoming year a record-breaking period for the development and deployment of drones and other critical military technologies. 

It is a shared responsibility of weapons manufacturers, government officials, and all stakeholders to make this year unprecedented in terms of drone production.

President Zelenskyy

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the Ъ, or the hard sign, is a non-translatable letter with no phonetic representation, much like an apostrophe.