Missiles can’t stop them all: Russia’s fake Shaheds flood Ukrainian skies

May 20, 2025 - 12:02

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Ukraine and Russia continue their aerial war of attrition. The Russians are constantly upgrading their Shahed attack drones and changing their tactics, according to Colonel Yurii Ihnat, Head of the Communications Directorate of the Air Force Command of Ukraine, UkrInform reports.

Russia frequently bombards Ukraine with a broad arsenal, including missiles, bombs, artillery, and drones. Civilian infrastructure—residential buildings, hospitals, power facilities, and transport—is often among the targets. Moscow denies targeting civilians, though schools, hospitals, and power systems are routinely destroyed. Ukraine and global organizations call the attacks deliberate and label them war crimes.

According to Ihnat, the drones have undergone changes in appearance, color, and guidance systems. The occupiers are actively adapting the Shaheds’ design to penetrate Ukraine’s electronic warfare systems.

In response, Ukraine’s Defense Forces are doing everything possible to counter these threats — deploying aviation, air defense, electronic warfare systems, and even drone units in the fight. Missiles alone are not enough to stop such a large number of UAVs, Army Inform reports.

A particularly dangerous challenge has emerged in Russia’s new tactic: launching a large number of drones simultaneously from high altitudes, as well as using decoy drones. These visually and acoustically resemble combat Shaheds, making them difficult to distinguish at first. In fact, there are sometimes more decoys than actual attack drones.

These decoys are not just for deception — they often carry explosives too, albeit less powerful ones. Their main purpose is to wear down Ukraine’s air defense systems, complicate the airspace situation, and force defenders to expend resources on every aerial target.

“These drones aren’t harmless. They’re not just fakes — we’ve found charges in them too. That’s why no one should touch the debris,” warns Yurii Ihnat.

Earlier, Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate presented the specifications of its new-generation Magura v7 naval drone. This drone was used earlier in May to shoot down two Russian Su-30 fighters.

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