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War in Ukraine

Ukrainian Drone Crew Sets New Record by Destroying 120 Russian Targets Overnight

3 min read
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Photo of Vlad Litnarovych
News Writer
Russian attack drone moments before being downed by a Ukrainian Sting drone, May 13, 2026. (Source: Wild Hornets)
Russian attack drone moments before being downed by a Ukrainian Sting drone, May 13, 2026. (Source: Wild Hornets)

Ukrainian interceptor drone manufacturer Wild Hornets said its STING drone crews destroyed more than 300 aerial targets during a single day-and-night combat period, including one unit that reportedly achieved 120 interceptions on its own.

The announcement, published by Wild Hornets on May 14, came after one of Russia’s largest drone assaults of the war, during which Moscow launched more than 1,500 strike drones against Ukraine over roughly 36 hours.

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According to the company, three STING units accounted for more than 200 confirmed kills, while one crew alone reached 120 interceptions in a single operational cycle.

“If these numbers are confirmed in full, this may become one of the largest single-period interceptor drone successes of the war,” the company suggested, noting that additional reports from crews were still being processed and the final count could rise further.

The STING has emerged as one of Ukraine’s most unusual and increasingly important air defense tools. Unlike traditional surface-to-air missile systems or electronic warfare platforms, the drone is designed specifically to hunt enemy drones in the air and physically destroy them through direct interception.

Developed by the Wild Hornets volunteer group, the bullet-shaped interceptor was built primarily to counter Iranian-designed Shahed strike drones, which Russia now launches against Ukrainian cities and infrastructure in massive nightly waves.

The NATO-codified STING reportedly exceeds speeds of 340 km/h and can operate at altitudes of up to 3 kilometers. The platform is paired with the Hornet Vision Ctrl system, which provides HD video transmission and low-latency control over long distances, allowing operators to engage targets far from launch sites.

The scale of the reported interceptions reflects the growing intensity of Russia’s drone campaign. During the May 13–14 assault, Ukrainian officials said Russian forces launched 1,567 strike drones in what became the largest drone attack of the full-scale war.

Ukraine’s air defenses reportedly intercepted 1,362 of those drones using a layered mix of interceptor drones, aviation assets, electronic warfare systems, mobile fire groups, and surface-to-air missile units.

Wild Hornets’ state that STING crews alone may have accounted for more than 300 kills suggests interceptor drones are rapidly becoming a major component of Ukraine’s evolving air defense architecture.

The reported figure of 120 interceptions by a single crew is especially notable. That number roughly matches the size of an entire medium-scale Russian drone wave and highlights both the intensity of the threat environment and the effectiveness of Ukraine’s increasingly specialized drone-on-drone warfare systems.

Earlier, Ukrainian P1-SUN interceptors successfully downed Russian Gerbera drones equipped with FPV drones on board for the first time.

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