Ukraine Tripled Its Drone Strikes In March. Now Russian Regiments Can't Move.

Ukrainian drones range freely across occupied territory.

In July, Ukrainian drone units struck Russian forces across occupied Ukraine just 28 times. Two months later, the pace of these mid-range strikes increased. Between September and February, drones struck across the occupied zone around 95 times a month.

Then, in March, the Ukrainians struck a staggering 288 times, blowing up Russian air defenses, bases, ammunition and equipment depots and electrical infrastructure. “Ukraine’s mid-range strike operations are becoming faster, broader and more systematic,” analysis group Tochnyi explained.

Note that, in the above graphic, the tally of April strikes only account for strikes through April 10.

What happened to nearly triple the pace of mid-range strikes? According to Tochnyi, it was a combination of:

• Better intelligence supporting a faster and wider targeting process

• More and better drones reaching more and better-trained drone units

• Predictable drone production across Ukrainian industry

• Quick Ukrainian adaptation to every new Russian drone countermeasure

It took four years of hard wartime experience, institutional development and expensive industrial scaling, but Ukraine has finally established a middle-distance drone strike complex that effectively replaces traditional manned air power.