Russia produces and uses more and more drones in fights, both typically combat and so -called lure. As the New York Times emphasizes, this is the result of huge jumps in their production in Russia. It is primarily about one -way assault drones, which are prioritized by Vladimir Putin and are currently mounted in the country in the main facilities of the arms industry. The Kremlin also presses to increase the production of smaller tactical drones, which Russia uses on the front line. There are not only more and more drones, but they are also more and more technologically advanced, which hinders the task of Ukrainian forces.
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Russia produces more and more drones
The threat of Russian drones has expanded over the past week outside Ukraine. At least a dozen or so unmanneders violated the Polish airspace on the night of September 9-10, while on Saturday the Ministry of Defense of Romania announced the capture of the drone in their sky.
“The war achieved another turning point in the way of using drones, both on the front line and in shock campaigns,” Michael Kofman, an expert at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said in an interview with “NYT”.
Russian drone attacks began to get worse in September last year. It was the first month in which Moscow sent over 1,000 drones to Ukraine – according to the “NYT” list, developed on the basis of the data of the Ukrainian Air Force. This year the numbers went up. Until then 2025, Russia has already sent 34 thousand. drones over Ukraine, i.e. almost nine times more than in the same period last year. Although Ukraine claims that most of them are preparing, according to Konrad, a military analyst from Rochan Consulting, it is difficult to draw conclusions based on official Ukrainian data. “I think they shoot down less drones than they say,” he said, quoted by “NYT”.
Vladimir Putin has repeatedly signaled that the production of drones is currently crucial for Russia. At the recent Economic Forum in Vladivostok, almost every participating region of Russia presented the drones they produce. Students and employees from abroad are included in the production of production. Russia also receives help in this area from its allies: China and Iran.
Analysts estimate that Russia is currently able to produce around 30,000 a year. assault drones modeled on the Iranian structure. It is possible that it will double this number in 2026 – they started with hundreds a month, then from 2,000. up to 3 thousand A month in the first quarter of this year, now from 5,000 up to 6,000 Monthly – said “NYT” Mykola Bielieskov, a military analyst at the Ukrainian National Institute of Strategic Studies. “Certainly many of them will break through our anti -aircraft defense,” he added.
