NATO records 'evolution' of Russian drones: They are now harder to shoot down

Russia has significantly improved its tactics for using strike drones against Ukraine.

According to him, the drones are now becoming more effective and more resilient to Ukrainian air-defense systems.

"We are seeing drones achieve higher levels of effectiveness," the NATO representative said.

He added that whereas at the start of the year, around 98% of Russian drones were being shot down or neutralized, that figure has now fallen to 85–90%. In his view, this indicates technological improvements and a more targeted Russian tactic.

"We see their payload capacity has increased, range has grown, they are becoming more resistant to electronic warfare, the Russians are increasingly using swarm tactics, and they are also operating drones at higher altitudes to avoid some of Ukraine’s air-defense assets," NATO said.

The senior NATO official noted that the Russian forces are using much larger numbers of drones at once.

"It is now not uncommon for a mass attack in a single night to involve about 450–500 drones, and that, in my view, is one of the key changes in tactics we are observing," the official said.

Earlier, we reported that Ukrainian engineers are developing new strike drones that will hunt the Shaheds. The unmanned systems operate on the same principle as air-defense missiles — they explode near enemy targets and damage them with shrapnel.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also said that Ukraine plans to produce hundreds to thousands of interceptor drones during this year.