Over the past three years, Russia has scaled up its one-way attack drone launches significantly. At the start of the war, Moscow launched on average 150 to 200 of these drones per month, according to Ukrainian Air Force data analyzed by Center for Strategic and International Studies. Today, it produces and deploys nearly 5,000 monthly , averaging more than 1,000 per week. In 2025 alone, Russia has launched more than 33,000 Shahed drones and their variants against Ukraine. This number was only 4,800 for the same period last year. Meanwhile, cruise and ballistic missile launches have stayed relatively steady, as shown in the chart below.

On Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told the United Nations General Assembly that “we are now living through the most destructive arms race in human history,” referring to Russia’s continued assault on Ukraine with powerful drones. On Sept. 7, Russia launched its largest aerial strike of its war against Ukraine—860 Shahed drones and missiles in a single night. The targets weren’t limited to Ukraine. Two days later, 19 of these exploding drones crossed into Poland , forcing NATO fighter jets into the sky. A similar incursion against Romanian airspace followed just days later. These were not isolated incidents. They marked a broader pattern in which Moscow has made cheap, mass-produced exploding drones the centerpiece of its aerial campaign.

On Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told the United Nations General Assembly that “we are now living through the most destructive arms race in human history,” referring to Russia’s continued assault on Ukraine with powerful drones. On Sept. 7, Russia launched its largest aerial strike of its war against Ukraine—860 Shahed drones and missiles in a single night.