Russia has launched a record 5,337 Shahed-type drones against Ukraine in June, according to data from the Ukrainian Air Force and Dragon Capital, smashing the previous record of 4,198 set in March. The attack has intensified dramatically in May and June, with mass attacks becoming more frequent and deadly.
Russia is now capable of launching in a single night as many drones as it did over an entire month in early summer 2024. In June 2024, the number of drones launched was 332. On June 27 of this year alone, Russia launched 363 drones, on June 17, 440, and on June 29, 477, in what was the largest aerial attack of the full-scale war.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said on June 24 that Russia has launched around 28,000 Shahed-type drones since 2022, with around 10% of them fired since the beginning of the month. Almost all of Russia’s deep-strike drones are divided into three similar varieties—Iranian-made imported Shaheds, Russian-made Gerans, which are direct copies of Shaheds, and more recently Garpiya-A1s, which use Chinese parts. There are also inexpensive dummy drones, or Gerbers, which resemble Shaheds but do not carry explosives.
Gerbers distract Ukrainian radar and anti-aircraft fire and typically make up half of the drones sent into Ukraine in a given attack. Often launched in coordination with cruise and ballistic missiles, Russian kamikaze drones have targeted Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities with renewed ferocity in recent weeks, killing dozens of civilians and injuring hundreds more.
On June 17, 2025, there was the deadliest attack on Kyiv since the start of the year when 30 people were killed and 172 others injured during a nine-hour assault. The attack, which included multiple drones and ballistic missiles, caused extensive damage to residential buildings. In the aftermath, the Ukrainian government has called for increased international support to bolster air defenses and counter these attacks. Russia’s production capabilities are expanding, with new launch sites and improved drone manufacturing rates, indicating a potential for even greater assaults in the future.