Russia drone attacks on Ukraine intensifying at horrifying rates and swerving defences

Building in the Ukrainian city of Odesa damaged after a Russian drone strike (Image: Getty)

Russia’s swarm drone attacks are striking targets in Ukraine at three times above the average in recent months, official figures show. Russian aerial bombardments on Ukraine have been intensifying in 2025, with the new statistics suggesting Moscow’s drones are increasingly getting past Kyiv’s air defences.

It is believed Russia this year has launched around 3,500 drones per month at Ukraine — more than 3.5 times the average in 2024. Iranian-designed Shahed drones in particular have been used extensively by Russia throughout the bloody war and it appears the mass attacks of the weapons are proving increasingly effective. According to reports, Russia’s drone hit rate has hit the highest levels since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Ukraine displays the remains of a Russian Shahed drone used to target Kyiv (Image: Getty)

Figures from Ukraine’s air force suggest around 15% of the drones managed to penetrate defences on average between April and June — an increase from only 5% in the three months prior, the Financial Times reports.

The change is being viewed as a sign that Russian modifications, to enable the Shaheds to fly faster and out of the range of Ukrainian machine gun fire, is proving successful.

Yasir Atalan, from the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank, who has compiled Ukraine’s dataset of Russian air attacks, told the FT: “The problem is not [that] the Ukraine air defence is getting worse. Instead, what we see is that new swarming tactics and drones are now flying in higher altitude, [which] makes them more effective.”

Debris in Odesa, Ukraine, after Shahed drone strikes by Russia (Image: Getty)

Moscow is producing the adapted Shahed domestically and the Financial Times reports the increased production within Russian has enabled the overwhelming of Ukrainian defences with mass attacks.

“The increase in sheer size in launches saturates the defence systems which increases the hit rate,” Mr Atalan told the outlet.

Over six weeks between June and July, Russia launched the nine largest daily air attacks of the war.

Ukrainian officials have expressed fears the tempo of Russian drone attacks could increase further.

Earlier this month, Robert "Magyar" Brovdi, Ukraine’s head of Unmanned Systems Forces, warned Shahed strikes could soon reach 1,000 per day.