Russia is upgrading more of its drones to escape Ukraine's drone hunters. Russia has begun fitting jet engines to another attack drone model, the BM-35, presidential adviser Serhii "Flash" Beskrestnov reported.

The move is a direct answer to Ukraine's interceptors, and it is spreading across Russia's drone fleet. As Ukraine's interceptors have improved, the Russians are replacing their engines with jet engines not only on long-range Geran drones but also on budget mid-strike drones.

Each Ukrainian advance in shooting drones down pushes Russia to make them faster, Beskrestnov says.

The jet BM-35 is built to be harder to catch

Beskrestnov shared a Russian report showing the jet version of the BM-35 and its claimed characteristics. According to the Russian segment, the jet BM-35 can reach over 350 kilometers per hour, has a range of over 200 kilometers, and carries a 10-kilogram warhead.

The speed is the whole point. Russian fighters claim the increased speed is intended to make the drone harder for Ukrainian interceptors to catch, according to the Russian report. A faster drone gives Ukraine's interceptors less time to close and strike, which is exactly the problem the jet engine is designed to create.

The change is driven by Ukraine's own success

Ukraine has scaled up cheap interceptor drones that take down tens of thousands of Russian drones a month, and that success is what forces Russia to respond, swapping propeller engines for jets to fly above the speed interceptors can reliably catch.

The result is a cost-and-speed contest. Jet engines make each drone more expensive and complex than the cheap propeller models Russia has relied on for mass attacks. So by making its interceptors effective, Ukraine has pushed Russia toward pricier, faster drones, the same dynamic seen with the jet Gerans that now strike Ukrainian cities.

Russia's war is driving advances in weapons technology without limits. This means that soon Ukraine will have to find more ways to protect itself from new weapons, as well as its allies, who have also come under Russia's attacks, such as Poland, Romania, and the Baltic States.

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Ukraine is shooting down drones at a fast-rising rate. Ukraine's Defense Forces destroyed 40,438 Russian fixed-wing drones, or "wings", in July 2026, Ukraine's Defense Ministry reported on 11 August.

The July figures mark a defense scaling up as fast as the threat it counters. Since the start of the year, Ukraine's Defense Forces have destroyed 195,000 Russian "wings" and 66,000 copters. A counter-drone effort is growing month by month against a Russian drone campaign that has itself expanded relentlessly.

The numbers climbed across drone types

Both categories of drone kills rose sharply. Fixed-wing "wings," the category that includes long-range attack drones like Shaheds, climbed from 27,711 in May to 40,438 in July, according to the ministry.

Copter kills rose even faster in proportion. The number of destroyed copters grew 42% in a single month, from 14,071 in June to 19,945 in July. The parallel rise in both types reflects a Russian drone offensive attacking on multiple fronts at once, from deep-strike Shaheds to short-range quadcopters over the trenches, and a Ukrainian defense expanding to meet each.

DELTA confirms every kill

Every strike has been confirmed by the DELTA system, and video recording of the shootdowns helps identify the most effective counter-drone tools for development and scaling, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said.

That verification matters for a claimed tally. Rather than a bare count, the numbers are tied to Ukraine's battle-management system, which logs and video-confirms each kill, the same DELTA platform whose combat data now trains Ukraine's target-detection AI.

The count is one side of the drone war

The figures capture only Ukraine's defensive half of a war fought increasingly by drones. Russia has expanded its drone production and nightly launches throughout 2026, aiming to overwhelm Ukrainian defenses with mass, and the rising Ukrainian kill counts are the answer to that escalation, not a sign it has eased.