Ukrainian units did not neutralize 722 Russian strike drones in a week, General Staff figures show. The military did not say what those drones hit. The Lancet is a loitering munition that circles before diving at a target. The Molniya is a cheap fixed-wing drone Russia builds in bulk.

Russia now leans on drones it can afford to lose. In April, Serhii “Flash” Beskrestnov, then an adviser to Ukraine’s defense minister, said Russian forces near the front were increasingly swapping expensive strike drones for cheaper Molniyas. Ukraine, for its part, has spent 2026 scaling up its interceptor industry. Each weekly tally shows whether that buildup keeps pace.

Seven days, 7,947 drones

From 29 October to 4 November, Russian forces launched 7,947 Molniyas and Lancets, the General Staff said. Ukrainian units neutralized 7,225. That averaged more than 1,100 launches a day. On 30 October, Molniyas alone numbered 1,609.

The General Staff said Russia uses the drones at the tactical level, against Ukrainian positions, military equipment, and supply routes. It added that Russia uses them to terrorize civilians in front-line communities. In late December 2025, military analyst Oleksandr Kovalenko of Information Resistance said a Molniya-2 had set a new range record of more than 230 km, using a Starlink terminal for control.

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Detectors at risk

In September, Beskrestnov, by then a presidential adviser on defense technology, warned that digital video links were turning up more often on Molniyas. Digital video may one day fully replace analog, mainly on fixed-wing drones, he said. Portable detectors and fixed stations receiving analog video would then become ineffective. He added it was worth considering digital-video detection for interception systems now.

In July, most Molniyas still used analog links, so Ukrainian forces could intercept their video, locate them, and send interceptors, Serhii “Ramses” Minaiev, commander of the Posipaky drone interception battalion, told Ukrainska Pravda. If those links go digital, analog gear can no longer pick up that feed. At this week’s launch rate, each percentage point the neutralized share slips would leave about 80 more drones a week unstopped, by Euromaidan Press’s count.