The war in Ukraine has entered a new stage due to the rapid development of unmanned systems and the expansion of so-called “kill zones” on the battlefield. To win the technological race, Ukraine needs to increase the pace of development, procurement and use of combat drones.
This was stated by Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrskyi. According to him, intelligence reports indicate that Russia is accelerating the creation of unmanned system units in 2026.
In particular, by April 1 the Russian army plans to increase the number of drone forces to 101,000 personnel.
At the same time, Ukrainian drones struck more than 105,200 enemy targets in February alone. About a quarter of these were destroyed by units of the Ukrainian Unmanned Systems Forces.
Ukraine’s Defense Forces continue to maintain an advantage in the use of multirotor FPV drones, although Russia has already gained the capacity to produce more than 19,000 FPV drones per day.
Ukraine is also developing fiber-optic controlled FPV drones. Over the past month, Ukrainian drones hit about 4,200 enemy drone operator positions.
To counter enemy strike drones, interceptor UAV platoons are being created within Ukrainian Armed Forces units. Their task is to destroy FPV drones, quadcopters and other attack drones used by Russian forces.
Ukrainian troops are also actively using ground robotic systems. Over the past month they completed more than 2,300 missions, mostly logistical but also engineering and combat tasks.
Syrskyi stressed that expanding unmanned systems remains a top priority for the Ukrainian military, as these technologies help conduct operations more effectively and reduce the burden on infantry units.