Ukrainians sound the alarm. Russians are using this weapon in record amounts

Unlike maneuvering missiles, Moscow absolutely does not lack kamikaze drones. The numbers speak for themselves. In May, the Russians conducted 413 attacks using such unmanned aerial vehicles, and between June and August, 167 to 246 strikes were recorded per month. The record month turned out to be September, when over 500 bombardments took place - reported Defense Express.

As reported on the pages of the Ukrainian portal, the longest period without any attack involving Shaheds was only two days in September. On two occasions, the Russians fired as many as 44 drones in a single day.

The effectiveness of Ukrainian anti-aircraft defense clearly increases when invaders use fewer of these machines. In the case when there are less than 20 drones, it is usually possible to destroy all enemy unmanned aircraft - the military portal noted.

The service emphasized that the Russians are aware of these statistics, which is why they recently shifted their attacks from targets in Odessa region in the south of Ukraine to locations in the central and western part of the country - in the Vinnitsa, Khmelnytsky, and Cherkasy regions. Unfortunately, these enemy actions have proven to be effective, because on Sunday, October 1, only 16 out of 30 drones were shot down.

The fact that Shahedys are relatively cheap is also of great importance to the Kremlin, as they cost 20-40 thousand dollars each. Therefore, it can be estimated that Russia spent the equivalent of 10-20 million dollars on September attacks - emphasizes Defense Express.

In Moscow, everything has been precisely calculated for a long time, so it can be expected that the Russians will increase the intensity of these attacks in order to deplete the significantly more expensive air defense resources of the Ukrainians.

In September 2022, Russia began to use unmanned aerial vehicles imported from Iran on the front lines in Ukraine. Kamikaze drones, mainly of the Shahed type, are being used to attack civilian targets and critical infrastructure all over the country. Two types of Iranian drones involved in the war in Ukraine have been confirmed. These are the less commonly used Shahed-131 and the widely distributed Shahed-136. The former can carry up to 15 kg of explosive charges. The latter is larger, measuring 3.5 m in length, and can carry a warhead weighing up to 40 kg, with a range exceeding 2,000 km. Both of them can speed up to about 190 km/h.

Last fall, military analysts revealed that the majority of semiconductors and other components used in Shaheds come from the West.

The government in Tehran consistently denies that it sold its drones to Moscow for use in Ukraine. In November 2022, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian confirmed that Iran had transferred a "certain number" of unmanned aircraft to Russia, but - in his view - this happened several months before the Kremlin's invasion of the neighboring country.