Moscow plans to launch 500 Shaheds and decoys at once, HUR warns
Russia has significantly increased its drone production and
is preparing to launch around 500 UAVs at Ukraine simultaneously, Vadym
Skibitskyi, deputy head of Ukraine’s HUR military intelligence, told RBC-Ukraine
on March 3.
According to Skibitskyi, Russia intends to expand the number
of launch sites from which drones will be deployed across Ukrainian regions.
“Based on Russian military command estimates, if their plans
for the first half of the year are fulfilled, they will be able to launch
approximately 500 unmanned aerial vehicles at once,” Skibitskyi stated.
He noted a sharp increase in drone production at Russian
plants, including those in Izhevsk and Yelabuga, as well as at the Kalashnikov
Concern. This ramped-up production allows Russian forces to deploy between 150
and 200 drones in a single night.
Skibitskyi also pointed out that Russia has diversified the
range of UAVs it launches at Ukraine, including numerous decoy drones designed
to overload Ukrainian air defenses.
“If in 2023 and early 2024 we mainly dealt with a single Shahed
model, later we saw Geran-1 and Geran-2. Now, the range of these UAVs has
expanded so much that they can’t even be counted on one hand—Geran-1, Geran-2,
Harpy, Gerbera, Parody, and others,” he explained.
According to HUR, Russia’s drone attacks continue to target
the same objectives: Ukrainian military command centers, defense forces,
airfields, defense industry facilities, and critical infrastructure, including
energy and gas transportation systems.
Andrii Kovalenko, head of Ukraine’s National Security and
Defense Council’s Center for Countering Disinformation, commenting on HUR’s
findings, said that the number
of drone launches depends on the availability of trained UAV crews. He
confirmed that Russia is indeed ramping up drone production.
“The increase in drone crews and launches is just one of
many signs that Russia has no real intention of seeking peace,” Kovalenko said.
On Feb. 23, Russia launched a record-breaking 267 drones at
Ukraine in a single night. Ukrainian air defenses managed to destroy 138 UAVs,
while another 119 were lost due to location-based interference, the Air Force
reported.
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