Published: · Region: Eastern Europe · Category: conflict

Russia Steps Up Drone Strikes and Targets Ukraine’s Power System, Air Force Warns

Ukraine’s Air Force says Russia launched 3,177 attack drones in September, up from 2,850 in August, while Ukrainian analysts report a Russian campaign against power plants and substations aimed at Ukraine’s energy system.

Russian strikes on Ukraine at the end of September are part of a wider pattern of heavier attacks and a growing focus on the country’s power grid, according to Ukrainian military and civilian sources.

A spokesman for Ukraine’s Air Force, Yurii Ihnat, said that as of 29 September Russian forces had launched 3,177 attack drones at Ukraine during the month. In August, he said, the figure was 2,850. The numbers show a clear increase in the use of so‑called reactive unmanned aerial vehicles.

During the night into 30 September, these tactics played out in practice. Ukrainian air defense units reported that they had shot down or suppressed 160 Russian air targets, including 155 drones out of 188 launched and 5 ballistic missiles. The main axis of attack was Kyiv region. Strikes and falling debris damaged houses, warehouses, vehicles and a supermarket in Obukhiv district, and impacts from Russian air weapons were recorded at 18 locations.

Analysts from the Ukrainian monitoring platform єРадар said that Russia has begun a campaign whose stated aim is the destruction of Ukraine’s power system. In their assessment of the most recent wave of attacks, they reported that Russian forces deliberately targeted thermal power plants, hydroelectric power plants, combined heat and power plants and substations in Kyiv region. They said they expect that in future attacks, Russian forces will try to take out energy generation and transmission facilities and that the goal of the strikes in this campaign is to disconnect nuclear power plants from the united grid.

The combination of a rising drone tempo and repeated strikes on power and grid assets adds sustained pressure on Ukraine’s air defenses and on the country’s energy planners. Large numbers of relatively cheap attack drones force Ukraine to expend air‑defense resources and increase the chances that some missiles or drones will hit critical sites.

Key indicators in the coming weeks will be whether the number of Russian attack drones continues to rise, how often large power plants and substations appear among confirmed targets, and whether Ukrainian officials announce longer or wider‑scale electricity cuts as a direct response to grid damage.

Sources

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