In September, Ukraine struck more Russian air defense systems than in each month since 2024. Its Defense Ministry reports that Ukraine stepped up strikes on targets deep in the Russian rear, and this is how it hit this amount of protective systems, radars among them, in the history of the ePoints program.

ePoints are points that Ukrainian units earn for verified combat missions, from strikes to reconnaissance and evacuation, and spend on drones, ground robots, and electronic warfare systems on the state's Brave1 Market. In September, units confirmed hits on 33,087 Russian soldiers under the program, more than in any month this year except March and April.

Every result is recorded on video in the DELTA battlefield system and verified by the Brave1 defense innovation cluster, the ministry said. Russian losses are also growing far from the contact line, it added, and units are finding new and unconventional ways to inflict them.

The strikes are meant for "bleeding the Russian war machine," Defense Minister Yevhenii Khmara said on 4 October.

Deep strikes pass 11,000

In September, the number of hits more than 20 kilometers behind the front line exceeded 11,000 for the first time. Hits beyond 50 kilometers also set a record, most of them along the Russian logistics route between Mariupol and Crimea. One air defense system was hit 552 kilometers away.

Ukraine also now has a ballistic missile for such depths, not simply drones. It fired its first FP-7 in combat on 1 October, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced without naming a target. Its maker, Fire Point, plans an interceptor version that aims to achieve a first ballistic missile shoot down by mid-2027.

Troops down more propeller Shaheds

Even as Russia kept changing its air attack tactics and launched more jet-powered drones, Ukrainian troops shot down 28% more non-jet-powered Shahed drones in September than in August, the ministry said.

Jet drones remain the harder target. Ukraine shoots down 85 to 92% of propeller-driven Shaheds but only 50 to 60% of jet-powered ones, Zelensky said on 4 October, when he announced a new small missile called Nika for testing against them. Ukraine's military intelligence estimates that Russia builds about 3,000 jet-powered drones a month.