Russia is rapidly increasing its use of jet-powered drones in attacks against Ukraine. Russian forces used 350 such UAVs in June, compared with 2,850 in August.
Yurii Ihnat, head of communications for the Ukrainian Air Force Command, said this during a television broadcast.
According to Ihnat, Russia has used a total of 7,700 jet-powered drones since it began deploying them. Their number has been increasing every month: 350 were used in June, 1,500 in July, 2,850 in August, and around 1,900 so far in September, the spokesperson said.
“This shows that Russia is not stopping and that they are finding ways to purchase jet engines and other components and assemble them on Russian territory. Around half of the Shahed drones being used now are jet-powered UAVs. This is very discouraging statistics for us,” Ihnat said.
He also noted that Russia had scaled up production of jet-powered drones despite the high cost of components and difficulties in delivering parts from the EU and the United States.
