18:31 05.11.2024

Only 5% of Russian kamikaze drones reach their targets – General Staff

2 min read
Only 5% of Russian kamikaze drones reach their targets – General Staff

The Ukrainian defense forces shot down more than 70% of the strike drones fired by the Russian occupation forces to attack Ukraine in October, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) has said Tuesday.

"According to the Air Force, in August, September and October 2024, Russia used 4,300 Shahed kamikaze drones and other types of drones imitating real Shaheds against Ukraine. Thanks to the coordinated combat work of the Ukrainian air defense Ukraine managed to shoot down 3,063 enemy drones, which is 71%," it said on the Telegram channel.

In addition, the Air Force introduced the notion "locations lost" in its daily reports, which means that drones disappeared from radar, presumably as a result of active work of electronic warfare or for other reasons. Between August and October 2024, there were 1,052 such drones, or 24%.

"Consequently, direct strikes by enemy drones account for 5%. Also, destruction or damage can be caused by the fall of the drones shot down by air defense," the General Staff said.

October became a record-breaking month in terms of the launch of enemy attack drones: in August 818 UAVs were launched, 701 were shot down, locations of 91 were lost; in September 1,410 were launched, 1,156 were shot down, locations of 201 were lost; in October 2,072 were launched, 1,206 were shot down, and locations of 766 were lost.

During the same period from May through July 2024, 1,133 strike drones were launched at Ukrainian territory, 1,055 were shot down by air defense, and locations of ten were lost.

The percentage of downed drones in May-July 2024 was about 94%.

"Thus, the percentage of direct hits of enemy Shahed kamikaze drones and drones of other types imitating real Shaheds in May-July and August-October 2024 is 6% and 5%, respectively," the General Staff said.

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