Photo: Vadim Skibitsky (Vitaliy Nosach, RBC-Ukraine) Author: Alexander Belous, Ulyana Bezpalko
Expert: Vadim Skibitsky
Russia has increased production of drones, allowing them to use 150 to 200 unmanned aerial vehicles in one strike. They plan to launch 500 drones against Ukraine.
Deputy Chief of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Major General Vadim Skibitsky, said this in an interview with RBC-Ukraine.
As Skibitsky noted, the Russians have significantly increased the production of unmanned aerial vehicles of various types.
“If earlier, in 2023 – early 2024, we knew only one “shahed”, then “Geran-1”, “Geran-2” and that's it. Today, the range of these unmanned aerial vehicles is so large that it is not always possible to count them on the fingers of one hand: “Geran-1”, “Geran-2”, “Harpy”, “Gerbera”, “Parody” and others,” the general said.
According to him, the types of drones that are currently in use include combat strike drones, reconnaissance drones, decoy drones, which are drones but without a combat payload, and imitation drones.
“In fact, all of this as a whole simply overloads our air defense system. It is very difficult to distinguish where a drone with a warhead is flying and where it is without it,” he said.
Regarding the production of unmanned aerial vehicles on the territory of the Russian Federation. This is Izhevsk, this is Yelabuga, this is the Kalashnikov concern. Now they have significantly increased the production of unmanned aerial vehicles. And this is what allows them to use from 150 to 200 unmanned aerial vehicles in one strike, Skibitsky explained.
“They plan to increase the number of launch pads from which they will launch unmanned aerial vehicles over our territory. According to the calculations of the Russian command, if the plans for the first half of the year are fulfilled, they will be able to launch about 500 unmanned aerial vehicles at the same time,” he said.
Earlier, British intelligence reported that Russia had managed to increase the production of kamikaze drones and increased the intensity of strikes on Ukraine. Therefore, this problem is difficult to solve in the near future.
According to British intelligence, Russia currently has the capacity to launch around 2,000 kamikaze drones (OWA UAS) into Ukraine every month. In January 2025, Russia launched around 2,400 kamikaze drones into Ukraine, exceeding the December 2024 figure of 1,700.