Ukraine's recent attack on Russian warplanes was audacious, innovative and unprecedented. Ukraine's stealthy strike was carried out with small drones, hidden in trucks parked near several Russian air bases.
Yet Operation Spider's Web, orchestrated by the SBU intelligence service, was also part of a recurring theme: Ukraine keeps inventing new ways to wage war with drones, and regularly catches Russia by surprise.
"The Ukrainians are the ones innovating and trying these daring and creative attacks. And then the Russians are left scrambling to figure out how to defend against it, and prevent another one," said Kelly Grieco, who studies the air war at the Stimson Center think tank in Washington.
Ukraine has also pioneered the use of drones in the waters of the Black Sea. Last month, a Ukrainian sea drone shot down a Russian warplane — the first time this type of attack has been recorded.
Michael Kofman, with Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, often travels to Ukraine and is always struck by the pace of change in drone warfare.
"My experience, going back to Ukraine numerous times during this war, this typically evolves around every 3 to 4 months," said Kofman.
Ukraine pioneered sea drones a couple of years ago. They were essentially jet skis packed with explosives and guided by remote control. Those drones — and more sophisticated models that followed — proved so effective that Russian warships no longer venture anywhere near Ukraine's Black Sea coast.
Tracking Russian ground troops
Ukraine's drones are also creating huge problems for Russia's ground forces. When the troops gather in large numbers for an operation, Ukrainian drones are virtually certain to spot them and attack.
"It is becoming harder to move because drones are providing eyes on the battlefield," said Grieco. "It's not just being seen, but it's also very quickly you're able to act on it. You find lots of people saying, 'If you move on the battlefield in Ukraine, you're dead.'"
Russia has many more troops than Ukraine and is gaining ground incrementally. But Michael Kofman says Ukraine's drones play a critical role in limiting this Russian advantage.
"They add a huge force multiplier," said Kofman. "This makes it such that the Russian advances on the battlefield come at a very high cost."
In the early days of the war, artillery caused most of the deaths and injuries. Now, he says, it's drones.
"I think it became quite clear [last year] that drones were starting to be responsible for a higher share of the battlefield casualties," he said.
Ukrainian officials say drones inflict around 70 percent of the casualties suffered by both militaries.
Russia builds its own arsenal
The Russians began the war with a limited drone arsenal. But as the Ukrainians hammered them, the Russians realized they needed help — and fast.
"There is a history between the Russians and the Iranians in regards to collaboration on military items," said Omar al-Ghusbi, with the Center for Advanced Defense Studies, a Washington research institute. He just wrote a detailed report on the Russia-Iran drone partnership.
Early in the war, the Russians began buying an Iranian drone, the Shahed 136. The Iranian model is considered serviceable, but with limitations. It's propeller driven, relatively loud and slow, and sometimes described as a lawnmower in the sky.
But the main problem was Iran wasn't making nearly as many as Russia wanted. So Russia paid Iran for the technology, and began making a Russian version domestically, known as the Geran.
"The most groundbreaking, revolutionary thing about the Geran is the mass production capability as well as the capability of striking targets at a long range," said al-Ghusbi.
Both countries mass produce drones
Ukraine says it made more than 1 million drones last year and plans to build well over 2 million this year. The Russians have not offered numbers, but Ukrainian officials say Russia is catching up quickly and is likely to produce a similar number.
On many nights, both countries now unleash more than 100 attack drones at each other. In the past week, Russia has fired more than 400 drones at Ukraine on two separate nights — the largest numbers recorded by either side.
Both sides shoot down, or electronically jam, most incoming drones. But even if 10 or 20 percent get through, they can cause extensive damage. This is especially true in Ukraine, where many Russian drones strike civilian areas.
"I think it is overwhelming Ukraine's defensive systems," said al-Ghusbi. "If you're launching hundreds of drones, that requires a lot of people on a lot of different weapons systems monitoring the skies."
Before this war, drones were expensive, high-end hardware with a few specialized uses, but were not the main battlefield weapon.
Now, they're cheap, disposable, mass-produced weapons reshaping the Russia-Ukraine war — and many more conflicts yet to come.
Copyright 2025 NPR
