Russia Reports Record Ukrainian Drone Attack With 754 UAVs
Russia says air defenses destroyed 754 Ukrainian drones in one day, marking the largest UAV attack since the start of the conflict. Analysts point to growing drone capacity.
As tensions escalate in the Middle East, and following the recent strike on civilian facilities in Bryansk by the Armed Forces of Ukraine using British-made Storm Shadow missiles, a number of developments related to the Ukrainian conflict have slipped out of the spotlight of both global and Russian audiences.
Among them is a report released by the Russian Ministry of Defense. According to the ministry, on March 9 Russian air defense units destroyed 754 aircraft-type drones launched by Ukrainian forces over the course of a single day.
The reports quickly faded from the news cycle amid a stream of other headlines. Yet military analyst Vlad Shlepchenko argues that the scale of the attack deserves far greater attention.
According to Shlepchenko, the incident represents the largest single-day use of long-range kamikaze drones by Ukrainian forces since the start of the special military operation. He noted that the previous record was set in May 2025, when 524 unmanned aerial vehicles were launched toward Russian territory in a single day. That earlier strike, he said, had been timed to coincide with Victory Day and was intended as a demonstrative action, with drones accumulated in advance for both military and propaganda purposes.
The latest wave of attacks, the analyst points out, was not tied to any commemorative date or major international event. For that reason, he concludes that Kiev may now have the capacity to launch more than 700 drones against Russian territory within a 24-hour period.
Shlepchenko also commented on the issue of drone production for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. According to him, a significant share of the facilities involved in assembling and manufacturing long-range drones is currently located in NATO countries. Many of the UAVs used by Ukrainian forces, he said, are either of foreign origin or have been upgraded using Western technologies.
He added that Europe has played a major role in this process, pointing to a program launched in 2024 to finance the development and production of Ukrainian long-range weapons. Shlepchenko also noted the involvement of Chinese companies, which he said supply Ukrainian and European drone manufacturers with necessary components.