Can Russia really launch 400-500 Shahed UAVs daily: Ukraine's Intelligence Chief explains
Photo: Russia will not be able to launch 400-500 Shahed drones over Ukraine every day (video screenshot)
The Russians can occasionally launch up to 500 Shahed strike drones at Ukraine simultaneously, but not every day. For such massive launches, they need to accumulate drones, RBC-Ukraine reports, citing Kyrylo Budanov, Chief of Ukraine's Defense Intelligence.
"Launching 450-500 Shaheds every day - it's impossible to do that. Periodically, unfortunately, they (Russians - ed.) have such a capability. Up to 500, they can realistically launch in a single salvo," Budanov said.
The Chief of Ukraine's Defense Intelligence also noted that Russian engineers are upgrading the antennas for strike drones, moving to 16-channel models.
"These antennas are currently produced in Russia, but the CRPA antenna was developed here by an engineer in Ukraine. Nobody needed it back in the early 2000s, so he went to Russia. Now one of them died tragically somehow, and one is still alive. Well, probably not for long either," added the Chief of Ukraine's Defense Intelligence.
Is Russian army ramping up drone attacks?
At the end of May and beginning of June, some military experts and media speculated that Russia was allegedly preparing to significantly increase drone attacks on Ukraine. Reports indicated online that the enemy plans to launch a thousand drones at once.
Yurii Ihnat, Head of the Communications Department of the Air Force Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, commented on this information.
"There were indeed various statements - whether they would be Shaheds or Shaheds used together with decoy drones. The public shouldn't be overly frightened. Of course, we need to prepare for an increase [in drone numbers], because that is the current trend," Ihnat said.
On the night of June 9, Russia launched a record number of aerial targets at Ukraine -499, of which 479 were eliminated.
