Ukraine surpasses russia in number of drones launched per day - media reports

The Ministry of Defense of the aggressor country, the russian federation, reported that 992 drones were allegedly shot down over russian regions on the night of June 17–18. Thus, Ukraine has surpassed russia in the number of drones launched in a single day since the start of the full-scale invasion, according to the online publication “Agentstvo.”

The previous Ukrainian record for the number of drones launched toward russia was set on June 6. At that time, the russians reported destroying 911 drones.

The publication notes that the russians only report drones they have shot down. Therefore, it can be assumed that the actual number of drones participating in the attack may be higher.

The occupiers launched their most recent record-breaking strike against Ukraine on March 24 of this year. At that time, the Ukrainian military reported that 948 russian drones had attacked the country’s territory over the course of a day.

The publication notes that these figures demonstrate Ukraine’s growing capability to strike deep into russian territory. In the early years after both sides began actively using drones, Kyiv could not match moscow in terms of the intensity of its attacks.

As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, ABC News previously wrote that in March 2026, the Ukrainian military launched more drones at russia than the russians did at Ukraine.

As a reminder, Bloomberg reported that russia has sharply increased its drone production. This year, the russians plan to manufacture more than 7 million FPV drones.

And according to Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrskyi, the occupiers aim for jet-powered strike UAVs to account for 50% of all drones they use to attack Ukraine.