Russia: How the attacks with drones have changed the form of war

As Russia’s war machine runs out in eastern Ukraine, another attack is killed by the front line. Russia intensifies nightly attacks with drones in Ukrainian cities and infrastructure, and as it increases the production of these weapons, its attacks are intensifying.

Many of the drones are not particularly fast or high -tech, but they are cheap enough that the Kremlin launches more than 700 in one night, in an effort to weaken Ukraine’s air defense and decimate the morale of citizens, according to experts.

After acquiring the Iranian plans for aggressive drones shahad, Russia built its own huge factory to produce thousands of these weapons every month. Its evolving tactics force Ukraine to counterattack with more expensive ammunition and innovations, as less expensive defense methods become less effective.

Rapid increase in attacks with drones

The rapid increase in drone attacks shows that the war has evolved to rely on these unmanned autonomous aircraft.

Ukraine and Russia have been forced to improve the potential of drones to compensate for deficiencies in Air Force capabilities, a momentum that does not apply to all Western powers. However, experts argue that the United States and their European allies in NATO are actively working to improve drones and anti-drone businesses in order to maintain their advantage in any future conflicts.

“NATO will probably end up using drones on a large scale. Not on the same scale as Russia and Ukraine, because we have these huge air forces in which we have invested and which can be hit with great force very quickly – but as a complement to them, “Robert Tollast, a researcher in the Royal United Services Institute, told CNN.

Taiwan is already considering developing a large number of cheap aggressive drones, Tollast said. Non -state factors around the world and drug cartel is also increasingly based on drones. “These will be a huge challenge for unprepared armies around the world,” he added.

Russia

Russia is producing more than 6,000 shahad type drones each month, according to information provided by the Ukrainian Defense Information Service at CNN. And the production of attacks within Russia is much cheaper than the beginning of the war, when Moscow bought them from Tehran.

“In 2022, Russia paid an average of $ 200,000 for such a drone,” a source from the Ukrainian Defense Information Service said. “In 2025, that number was reduced to about $ 70,000,” due to the large scale of production at the Drone Alabuga plant in Tatarstan, Russia.

However, cost estimates vary significantly-the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a Washington-based Think Tank, found that estimates for the SHAHED-136 ranges from $ 20,000 to $ 50,000 per drone. By comparison, only one anti -aircraft rocket can cost over $ 3 million.

This relatively low cost allows the Kremlin to intensify nightly attacks with drones, as well as to carry out more frequent large -scale attacks.

Earlier in the war, major rocket attacks and drones took place about once a month. Now, according to CSIS analysis, they are done on average every eight days.

For many citizens, the constant threat of attacks with drones is frightening.

Bohdana Zhupanyna, a resident of Kiev, was in advanced pregnancy when her family’s apartment was destroyed by a Russian drone attack in July.

“I try to calm down, because such anxiety in the ninth month of pregnancy is very dangerous,” said Zupanina, who eventually gave birth to her baby safely. “I lost a lot in this cursed war. My father was killed by the Russians, my apartment was destroyed by the Russians, and my mother almost killed by the Russians, “he said.

And while Russia uses large -scale drones to attack Ukrainian cities hundreds of kilometers away from the front, citizens living in cities close to Russia -controlled areas describe that they are tormented by daily attacks by Drones FPV. Residents in the Hersona area had previously told CNN that no target seems to be out of bounds, with reports of attacks by FPV drones on pedestrians, cars, buses and even ambulances.

Russia has repeatedly denied that it is aiming for citizens, despite the substantive evidence to the contrary.

The percentage of drones that hit their goals has almost doubled, reaching close to 20% since April, compared to 2024, when less than 10% hit goals on average, said Yasir Atalan, a data researcher at CSIS. And, as CSIS analysts wrote in their analysis, “it doesn’t matter if a single shahad strikes its goal. What matters is the complex effect of the weapon of horror on civilians and the pressure he exerts on air defenses. “

Russia’s tactic is to “maintain constant pressure,” Atalan told CNN. “Their strategy is now becoming more and more focused on this kind of deterioration.”

Ukraine

Ukraine is also counterattacked with FPV drones on the front lines and has attacked weapons infrastructure and facilities within Russia using long -range drones.

“For every technological development, both sides are already looking for countermeasures. And the innovation cycle is so fast that within two to three weeks we are already seeing a reaction to a technological innovation, “said Kateryna Stepanenko, a Russian analyst at the Institute for the Study of War, a Think Tank based in Washington.

“Thus, some of the approaches that may be effective today may not be as effective in the coming months,” Stepanenko said.

Now, both Ukraine and Russia are working on developing drones with artificial intelligence that can make their own decisions on the battlefield, as well as to create Drones of interception that could be used as a cheaper method of dealing with air attacks by launching missiles.

“There are many references to Ukrainians who try some of these drones, but we haven’t seen them used on a large scale,” Stepanenko said. “The development of drones in the interception would liberate Ukraine’s potential and would also help the Ukrainian forces to maintain some of their own air defense missiles for missile attacks,” he said.