Russia launches record swarm of drones in Ukraine

About 80 of the suicide drones were shot down Ukrainian defensewhile another 90 are said to have disappeared from radar, possibly due to electronic jamming.

The drones that found their targets hit civilian infrastructure, including an electricity grid in Ternopil, where 70% of residents have now lost access to electricity and water.

“The consequences are bad because the facility was significantly affected, and this will affect the power supply of the entire region for a long time,” said Vyacheslav Nehoda, governor of the region.

Several residential apartments were also hit by the drone strike.

Russia routinely targets critical infrastructure and non-military resources such as energy facilities and food depots to increase the danger of Ukraine’s harsh winter. The bitter cold is dangerous enough, but a lack of power increases the threat of civilians freezing to death.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky issued a message in response to the drone swarm, acknowledging that “damage has been caused to our critical infrastructure and the situation in Ternopil remains challenging.”

“All service and repair crews are on site and are doing everything they can to help people and restore electricity as quickly as possible,” he assured the public.

“Suicide drones” are a favorite weapon of the Russian military. They are cheap, highly mobile UAVs equipped with explosives and can be remotely controlled through complex routes before detonating themselves. Decoy drones are often flown alongside suicide drones to complicate interception attempts.

Russian war production capabilities have become scarce over the course of the war, and suicide drone production has been partially outsourced to various alliances.

North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un has ordered its military factories to exponentially expand their production of suicide drones, believing them to be a crucial asset in modern warfare. The Korean People’s Army has been sharing mercenaries and weapons with Russia for months, including drones.

Thousands of suicide drones have also been imported from Iran.

Zelensky pointed out in his message on Tuesday that suicide drones still produced in Russian factories are often built from parts purchased abroad, such as Chinathe United States, Poland and Switzerland.

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“188 drones. Each contains 85 foreign-made components – nearly 16,000 in total, without which they could not be launched,” Zelensky said. “These attacks are only possible because of Russia’s ability to circumvent sanctions through various schemes.”

He continued: “We thank everyone worldwide who is blocking such supplies, but we need greater collective efforts to enforce sanctions and force Russia to stop this war. We must put an end to Russian aggression. If you are against the war, you must really be against Russia’s circumvention of sanctions.”