The furious humming sound from attack drones has spread fear in Ukrainian cities during the summer. Russia launched a record number of – over 5,300 – drones against Ukraine in June, compared to a tenth during the same period last year, according to statistics from the Ukrainian air force.
In June, the UN reported the highest number of civilian casualties and injuries in Ukraine since Russia's full-scale invasion began in February 2022.
The reason for the intensified attacks is that Russia has significantly increased its production of large drones with long range. Previously, such drones, of the Shahed model, were imported from Iran, but now Russia can manufacture them on its own.
Russia has increased drone production tenfold in about a year, says Oscar Jonsson, researcher in war science at the Defense University.
At the same time, Russia has greatly improved the Iranian version, with better warheads and electronic components.
Cheap copies
Lately, Russia has increasingly tried to overload Ukraine's air defense by carrying out massive attacks with a large number of so-called decoys. These are drones that are not loaded with explosive substances. They are very difficult to distinguish from live drones, but cost only a fraction for Russia. The Ukrainian air defense is forced to waste valuable ammunition shooting down the drones.
It's pretty cheap to send an explosive charge through the air, but difficult and expensive to shoot it down, says Oscar Jonsson.
Russia produces almost as many decoys as live drones.
Want to break the defense
The tactic makes it possible for Russia to get a greater effect from its live drones and rockets, especially since Ukraine is suffering from a shortage of air defense missiles.
If Russia sends a first wave of drones that are decoys, they can see where they are being shot down and thus figure out where Ukraine has grouped its air defense resources. Then they can target the most valuable rockets at another location, says Jonsson.
Sources close to the Kremlin tell The New York Times that the record-large bombing campaigns are Russia's strategy to break the Ukrainian defense in the coming months.
Russia is trying to overwhelm the system. When it becomes more difficult for Ukraine to defend itself, Russia can knock out Ukrainian industry, economy, and military much more effectively, says Jonsson.
Jonas Cullberg/TT
Record number of civilians killed in Ukraine
TT
June became the month with the most civilian casualties in Ukraine since Russia's full-scale invasion of the country began in February 2022. 232 people were killed and 1,343 injured.
During the first half of 2025, 6,754 civilians were killed or injured. This is an increase of 54 percent compared to the same period in 2024, when 4,381 civilians were killed or injured.
An important reason for the increase is that Russia is using more long-range rockets and drones against Ukrainian cities, and that they have become more powerful.
In June 2025, Russia carried out ten times more rocket and drone attacks than in June 2024.
Source: UN
