Russia increased its use of jet-powered drones against Ukraine fivefold in July — Ihnat

Russia has increased the number of jet-powered drones used to attack Ukraine, deploying five times more of them in July than in June, Air Force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat said on Monday in an interview broadcast during the national telethon, UNN reports.

Let us recall when this kind of attack apparently began to intensify, when the enemy changed its tactics of use—not so much the tactics as the means, that is, when it significantly increased specifically the number of jet-powered drones. This happened in July. In July, five times more jet-powered UAVs were used than in June. So this was the month when the buildup of these UAVs, as well as “Banderols,” began in earnest

He explained that “Banderol” is “called different things: a munition, a drone missile. Well, its flight parameters are already close to those of a cruise missile, so to speak. This weapon flies at approximately 600 km/h.”

“Thus, realizing that Ukraine’s Defense Forces currently have fairly high rates of shooting down and suppressing Shahed-type drones—the 136 or 131, and so on—that is, those with conventional gasoline engines, they naturally did not start using those jet-powered UAVs just yesterday, but they have now increased their use, understanding that they can no longer be shot down by the conventional methods we already have against ordinary drones. We now need to take a different approach, using ground-based air defense against them, namely short-range surface-to-air missile systems. Also, aviation systems and platforms—aircraft, such as fighter jets equipped with air-to-air missiles—in order to successfully intercept these drones,” Ihnat said.

Asked whether even more jet-powered drones had been launched in August than in July, the spokesperson for the Ukrainian Air Force said: “I think so; the enemy is increasing their use.”

“You can see that attacks have been continuing for four days in a row, both at night and during the day. And the high proportion of jet-powered UAVs is particularly noticeable. As for whether they are being shot down—they are being actively shot down. I understand that society has many questions about why some of them reach Kyiv. Well, far from all of them reach Kyiv,” Ihnat emphasized.

“If 10 out of 100 reach their destination, it is loud here. Accordingly, air defense systems are being deployed, and aviation is operating. (...) And, unfortunately, unfortunately, it is impossible to shoot down everything. The enemy attacks with large numbers, I emphasize once again, from various directions, even taking weather conditions into account. Clearly, if the weather is clear, it is significantly easier to shoot them down. Weather conditions are generally a decisive factor in conducting combat operations, especially against jet-powered UAVs, because we have various means and different guidance systems,” Ihnat said.

“Therefore, weather conditions also limit the capabilities of our Defense Forces. That is why the response is already being conducted with consideration for the means available at a particular site of the enemy’s attack, the directions of movement, and, accordingly, the weather conditions and the forces and means that can help at a given time under the conditions and circumstances I have listed,” Ihnat remarked.

Why Kyiv has become the main target of Russia’s attacks with jet-powered “Shaheds”

Asked why Kyiv in particular had become a place that was constantly terrorized with these jet-powered “Shaheds,” and how long this could continue, Ihnat remarked that “it is difficult to predict or forecast anything at this point, because that is a thankless task.” “We understand that the enemy has set itself the goal not merely of frightening Kyiv residents and demoralizing them—this is also one of its goals—but the enemy directs every ‘Shahed,’ every jet-powered or conventional one, at a specific target. It could be some kind of logistics center. You can see that shopping centers, too, are unfortunately being hit, even though there is no military production there, as well as postal terminals—you can see that many of them are also being destroyed. And, accordingly, the enemy is also interested in other strategic sites, including critical infrastructure facilities. (...) Therefore, every ‘Shahed’ or missile is aimed at its own target, and they want to achieve something; they have some strategic objective,” Ihnat said.

"Our task is, well, to withstand this pressure, because we see that the Shaheds they launch, judging by the debris, are found to have come directly from the factory. In other words, this Shahed actually came off the production line two weeks ago, and we are already finding fragments of it among the debris, marked with a date from two weeks ago," said the spokesperson for the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

"This indicates that they are being released from the production line. (...) If it goes straight from the factory to the launch sites, it has to undergo some logistical route, be positioned there, and launched. Well, this shows that the enemy is doing all of this very quickly, and therefore such conclusions can be drawn," Ihnat stated.

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