Russia broke its record and launched nearly 1,000 Shaheds and strike drones in a single day at Ukraine

The Shahed has been a staple of Russia's large-scale drone waves against Ukraine. Sergei SUPINSKY / AFP via Getty Images 2026-03-25T04:01:56.904Z Share Copy link Email Facebook WhatsApp X LinkedIn Bluesky Threads lighning bolt icon An icon in the shape of a lightning bolt.

Impact Link Save Saved Read in app Loading audio narration... This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account? Log in. Ukraine's air force said it had detected nearly 1,000 Shahed and other strike drones in one day. It said it shot down or disabled 906 of them, at an interception rate of 95.5%. Kyiv's latest account breaks Russia's previous launch record of 728 such drones. AI-generated summary Summaries are generated by an AI model trained on Business Insider's articles. AI may make mistakes or provide inaccurate/incomplete information. We're unable to load that answer right now. Please try again. What's the impact of drone warfare? Why does Russia use Shahed drones? How has drone technology evolved in warfare? How does Ukraine counter drone attacks? What are the challenges of intercepting drones? Ukraine said on Tuesday that the Kremlin had attacked with 948 Shaheds and other strike drones within 24 hours, breaking the previous Russian record from last year.

The Ukrainian Air Force said that it had detected 392 Russian fixed-wing, long-range attack drones on Monday evening, followed by another 556 before 6 p.m. local time the next day.Its statements said that 906 of the drones were shot down or suppressed by electronic warfare, translating to a roughly 95.5% interception rate. Ukraine said the drone attacks had been part of a "combined strike on critical infrastructure facilities," with about two dozen cruise and ballistic missiles launched together with the uncrewed aerial systems."A large number of drones flew in from the north — Chernihiv and Sumy regions," the air force statement read, referring to Ukraine's northern regions. Some western and central regions, including the capital of Kyiv, were also hit. Ukrainian officials said they scrambled "all possible air defense means" against the Russian attack, including crewed aircraft, interceptor drones, jammers, and ground-based systems.Russia's previous launch record for Shahed-type and other strike drones was 728 of the uncrewed systems in July 2025.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also said in September that year that Russia had launched roughly 810 long-range drones in a single wave, but that only about 400 were Shaheds.The Kremlin, which manufactures a localized version of the Iranian-designed Shahed, often pairs its long-range loitering munitions with decoy drones called Gerberas that aim to waste Ukrainian air defense efforts. Another type of Russian fixed-wing drone, the Italmas, has a similar design but is built from plywood and intended as a cheaper way to deliver an explosive warhead.Ukraine's new assessment comes amid concerns over the past two years that Russia has been bolstering production of its long-range attack drones, the most advanced of which have been found to use Western electronics. In January, Ukraine's commander in chief, Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, said that his forces believed Russia had plans to produce 1,000 Shahed drones in a day.Moscow's forces now tend to send waves of Shaheds in bursts, allowing its stockpiles to accumulate for days before launching the drones en masse to overwhelm Ukrainian air defenses. The latest salvo on Tuesday involved at least 42 hits from Shahed drones, alongside six missile strikes, the Ukrainian Air Force said.