Russia is churning out attack drones. Ukraine is feeling the impact.

Russia's mass production of attack drones is raining fear across Ukrainian cities.

- Jane Lytvynenko

Moscow sent as many long-range attack drones against its neighbor in the first two weeks of June as it did during whole months last year, straining the country's air defenses and undermining President Trump's attempts to secure a peace deal.

A statistical analysis by the Center for Information Resilience, a U.K.-based open-source investigations organization, found that Russia, after cranking up production, has launched more than 20,000 attack and decoy drones in 2025 so far.

"The massive increase in total drone launches is almost trying to saturate Ukrainian air defenses," said Kyle Glen, an investigator with CIR. "And that means a higher chance of them actually hitting the target."

On the morning of June 10, Kyiv was shrouded in smoke following an overnight attack. The shock wave from the assault, which used 315 drones and seven missiles, damaged the facade of the St. Sophia Cathedral, a symbol of the capital that has stood on the site since the 11th century. In the port city of Odesa, another attack badly damaged a historic movie studio.

Cities near the front lines, where air defenses have little time to react, are especially vulnerable to the frequent strikes. The number of incoming drones and missiles has been increasing for months, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video address last week.

"This is a steady trend," he said, "and this means that in Moscow they are not afraid of anyone in the world—nobody of those who called for stopping killings and meaningful negotiations about ending the war."

Russia has framed its latest attacks as a response to Ukraine's daring Operation Spiderweb, which destroyed Russian strategic bombers deep inside the country. But devastating Russian airstrikes have been a feature of the war since it began and Moscow has been steadily improving its drone capability.