Over the past year, Russian factories have increased production of strike drones, with which the enemy attacks Ukrainian cities daily, and recently there has been talk of record numbers, writes The Wall Street Journal.
According to the Center for Information Resilience, over 24,000 Russian drones have already attacked Ukrainian cities since early 2025. It is noted that on Wednesday, July 9, Russia attacked the territory of Ukraine with so many drones that it launched for the whole of July 2024.
“They are constantly breaking new records”, said Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ignat.
The largest-scale attack on Ukraine on July 9, carried out by Russia, was facilitated by the agreement signed with Iran in November 2022. Then the parties agreed on the production and purchase of Iranian Shahed attack drones on Russian territory.
A recent report by C4ADS, a non-profit organization dedicated to the study of illegal networks around the world, disclosed information that Russia paid $1.75 billion to Iran for technology, equipment, source code and 6,000 Shahed drones.
It is indicated that by then, in 2022, Russia had already used up a significant part of its long-range missile stockpile, and cheap Iranian drones had become an alternative, which allowed Moscow to continue its air strikes against Ukraine.
Analysts indicate a different cost of producing one Shahed drone for Russia - from 35,000 to 60,000 dollars.
Initially, the models were supplied directly from Iran, but subsequently Russia mastered various elements of the production chain. In Tatarstan, production facilities were expanded in the special economic zone "Alabuga", where the production of these drones is carried out. Workers hired from Africa used Chinese components, as well as the logistics networks that Iran had built during its decade-long confrontation with the West.
It is noted that despite the fact that Ukrainian drones struck this facility, Russia was able to continue work on the production of "Shahedi". According to Ukrainian intelligence, after these attacks, some of the enemy's products were transferred to other facilities on the territory of Russia.
The publication emphasizes that by producing drones in the country, Russia was able to reduce its dependence on Iran, and this decision was appropriate given the Iranian bombing by Israel last month. In addition, due to the need to retaliate against the strike on Israel, Iran's own drone stocks have decreased.
It is indicated that Moscow has also improved the original design of Iranian drones, making them faster and quieter. Thanks to this, they have increased their maneuverability and managed to maximize the damage from their strikes.
Ukraine has official data that Russia now produces over 5,000 such long-range drones and decoys every month. It is stated that some of these drones can fly 2,500 kilometers to their target.
It is reported that in order to destroy enemy drones in the air, Ukraine must each time raise fighter jets and helicopters into the air, include electronic jamming systems, and mobile air defense groups on the ground.
"We are using all the resources at our disposal", noted Air Force spokesman Yuri Ignat.
As the publication reports, Russia is constantly changing its tactics, as it seeks to inflict maximum damage on Ukraine. Its goal is to force us to use more valuable missile interceptors to shoot down decoy drones that look a lot like "Shahedi", but do not contain explosives.
However, according to Ignat, Ukrainian air defense is getting better at recognizing such decoy drones every time, as they have differences in appearance, sound, and "Shahedi". To neutralize them, Ukraine uses only electronic warfare means.
However, Moscow claims that Ukraine is retaliating by launching dozens of its drones into Russian territory every day.
Attacks by the "martyrs" of the Russian Federation against Ukraine
Earlier, UNIAN reported that Russia had attacked Kharkov with drones, with one of the targets hit being a maternity hospital. As a result, three women with babies were affected.
The Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Pavel Palis revealed that Ukraine is engaged in development that would help shoot down Russian missiles of the "Dagger" or "Zircon" type.