Ukraine is planning to triple its daily long-range drone strikes against Russia, scaling from more than 300 launches per day to 1,000. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made the announcement on August 28 following a meeting of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief Staff, hours after a Russian drone attack killed between 27 and 37 civilians in the Kyiv region.
A deadly catalyst
The Kyiv-region strike that preceded Zelenskyy’s announcement was among the deadliest single attacks on Ukrainian civilians in recent months. Dozens were killed, with numerous additional injuries reported, when Russian jet-powered Shahed drones hit areas outside the capital.
Ukrainian authorities have since launched a criminal investigation into the storage of explosives near residential areas, suggesting the blast damage may have been amplified by secondary detonations.
Zelenskyy used the attack as a direct justification for the drone surge. The Supreme Commander-in-Chief Staff meeting focused specifically on two priorities: ramping up production of offensive long-range drones and building out Ukraine’s interceptor fleet to counter Russia’s growing arsenal of jet-powered Shaheds.
