Russian strikes on targets in Ukraine’s rear areas have sharply reduced Kiev’s capacity to produce fixed-wing drones, according to military expert and air defense historian Yury Knutov. He told NEWS.ru that the decline in output has already affected the scale of Ukrainian drone attacks.

Knutov said Ukraine had planned to raise the number of drones used against Russia to 1,000 per day, but actual production currently stands at between 360 and 500 UAVs. He attributed the gap to the destruction of numerous facilities involved in manufacturing these aircraft.

The expert also said Russian strikes have become more effective as Ukrainian radar equipment and electronic warfare systems are destroyed. In his assessment, this has made Geran drones increasingly difficult to detect and intercept.

The Russian Defense Ministry earlier reported that air defense units destroyed 199 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones overnight on October 5. The UAVs were intercepted over the Belgorod, Bryansk, Kaluga, Kursk, Oryol, Ryazan, Tula and Rostov regions, as well as the Moscow region, Krasnodar Territory and Crimea. Additional drones were destroyed over the Black Sea.