According to Ukrainian officials, Moscow fired a total of 273 UAVs at Ukraine on May 18.
Over the last week alone, Russian Forces have fired 250-plus drones targeting Ukraine, marking a significant uptick in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) bombardments. According to Ukrainian officials, Moscow fired a total of 273 UAVs on May 18, making this the largest drone barrage since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion back in early 2023. This hefty barrage occurred just one day prior to a scheduled phone call between U.S. president Donald Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin concerning a ceasefire. Moscow’s continued use of Iranian-produced Shahed drones is capable of overwhelming Ukrainian air defenses and further diminishing civilian morale through frequent barrages. These cheap, easily produced, lethal UAVs are now mass-produced in Russia and certainly play a major role in the ongoing conflict.
How did Moscow Acquire Iranian Shahed UAV?
Initially, Iranian officials persistently denied delivering suicide drones like the Shahed-136 to fuel Russia’s offensive war efforts in Ukraine. However, countless images and other footage prove the Shahed’s frequent deployment in the war. Back in 2022, the Biden administration divulged it had obtained satellite imagery showing Russian delegations visiting Iran’s Kashan airfield. Moscow’s procurement of Iranian-produced lethal drones is believed to have occurred shortly after.
In 2024, Russian state-run outlets published a video depicting a Shahed drone factory in Yelabuga. Russian-made versions of the Shahed can be identified in the video, and the sheer number of these UAVs depicted demonstrated Moscow’s massive UAV stockpile. Today, Moscow uses a combination of smuggled Western electronics and imported Chinese components to mass-produce these lethal drones. As detailed by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Russia’s reliance on Shahed drones is based largely on price. Each UAV is priced at roughly $20,000-50,000, and Russia tolerates a loss rate of more than 75 percent as it opts to saturate Ukrainian air defenses.
An Overview of the Shahed UAV
Iranian officials initially revealed their Shahed-136 drone series in 2021. Developed by Tehran’s Aircraft Manufacturing Industrial Company, the lethal UAV is largely based on its Shahed-131 predecessor. As a loitering munition, the drone functions as a “suicide” or “kamikaze” UAV, meaning it can linger around a target and remain airborne prior to striking. Iran’s Shahed stockpile is powered by the Chinese-made MD550 engine, which analysts believe is a reverse-engineered version of a German design. The Iranian drone measured around 3.5 meters in length and 2.5 meters in width and can accommodate a warhead weighing as much as 40 kg. While the Shahed 136 is rather simple in design, Russia has been significantly ramping up the use of this UAV series since the war began. According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Moscow has increased its deployment of these Iranian drones from roughly 200 launches per week to more than 1,000 per week by early 2025.
The use of lethal drones has proliferated across the globe. In addition to the Russia-Ukraine war, lethal UAVs have become a common offensive tactic in the Middle East via Iran and its regional proxy groups. Since drones are cheaper to acquire and easy to produce, they have become a favorite among state actors and non-state actors alike.
About the Author: Maya Carlin
Maya Carlin, National Security Writer with The National Interest, is an analyst with the Center for Security Policy and a former Anna Sobol Levy Fellow at IDC Herzliya in Israel. She has by-lines in many publications, including The National Interest, Jerusalem Post, and Times of Israel. You can follow her on Twitter: @MayaCarlin. Carlin has over 1,000 articles published over the last several years on various defense issues.
Image: Shutterstock.
