Russia surged high-speed jet-powered Shahed attacks by 5 times in a single month, Ukraine's air force said

Russia attacked Ukraine successful July pinch 5 times arsenic galore jet-powered Shahed loitering munitions arsenic it did successful June, according to Ukraine's aerial force.

The monthly surge points to really Moscow has sharply accrued wide accumulation of the precocious onslaught drones, which alert overmuch higher and faster than their propeller-only predecessors.

Yuriy Ignat, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian aerial force, cited the fivefold summation while speaking connected section tv connected Monday.

"Understanding that Ukraine's defense forces are already highly effective astatine shooting down Shaheds, the force has accrued its usage of a much analyzable and faster weapon, which accordingly requires ground- and air-based air-defense assets, including aircraft," he said.

Ignat added that statistic from August would apt show a continued summation successful the number of jet-powered drones.

Russian Shaheds, called Gerans, are section versions of Iranian onslaught drones that the Kremlin has tweaked and built domestically for the war. Until recently, the Kremlin astir commonly deployed the Geran-2, a delta-wing drone that utilized a propeller to scope speeds of astir 115 mph.

Launched successful hundreds-strong waves, they began overwhelming Ukrainian missile-based aerial defenses successful 2025, prompting Kyiv's troops to design inexpensive quadcopters tin of intercepting the Geran-2. By early 2026, Ukraine reported destroying astir 90% of Russian drones.

But newer drones, namely the Geran-3s and Geran-4s, usage turbojets that let them to alert astatine emblematic speeds of 200 mph aliases higher, making them incredibly difficult for astir Ukrainian interceptor drones to catch.

Jet-powered Shaheds besides alert astatine higher altitudes of up to 30,000 feet, retired of scope of Ukrainian crushed teams utilizing truck-mounted instrumentality guns and shoulder-launched anti-air missiles to down the drones.

Thousands of jet-powered drones launched

The turbojet drones are steadily becoming a halfway constituent of Moscow's aerial attacks. While Geran-3s were a uncommon sight successful the mediate of 2025, Ukrainian officials said successful mid-August this twelvemonth that jet-powered drones accounted for up to two-thirds of Russia's long-range attacks.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said successful his evening reside connected Saturday that Russia had launched 800 jet-powered drones successful conscionable 4 days, retired of a full of 1,500 long-range drones.

And Serhii "Flash" Beskrestnov, a renowned drone master who antecedently advised Ukraine's defense ministry, said connected Saturday that Russia had launched complete 2,500 jet-powered drones successful August alone, up from 1,500 successful July.

"Jet-powered Shaheds are being launched astatine Ukraine virtually consecutive from the factory," he wrote successful a societal media post.

Zelenskyy said Ukraine has been moving connected interceptors tin of taking down jet-powered Shaheds, adding that 4 companies had already developed specified technology.

Meanwhile, Ukraine faces a tandem threat successful the S8000 Banderol, a low-cost, jet-powered hybrid limb built pinch commercialized parts and often described arsenic a operation of a cruise rocket and an onslaught drone.

Ukrainian reports opportunity the Banderol tin recreation astatine speeds of complete 400 mph and transportation a 114-kg explosive warhead complete 300 miles. While cruise missiles are often launched from strategical bombers that tin telegraph an onslaught erstwhile they return off, Russia has chiefly launched the Banderol from reconnaissance drones and helicopters.