One-third of Shaheds reach their targets, drone terror may last long

Thirty percent of the Iranian-made Shahed drones launched by the Russians reach their targets.

Source: Kyrylo Budanov, the Head of the Chief Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, in an interview with Ukrainska Pravda

Details: Replying to a question about how many Iranian-made drones the Russians still have, Budanov said that Russia is constantly ordering them. The Russians ordered about 1,700 drones of all types, but, as he states, these still need to be manufactured.

It is indicated that the one-time batch delivery is about 300 units. The second such batch is currently in use.

As of 22 October, the Russians used about 330 Shaheds, 222 of which were shot down. According to Budanov, “others [drones], to one degree or another, reached their targets – not always particularly their own, sometimes [they hit] somewhere close [to these], but 30% of drones reach their targets”. 

Budanov said that “in general, the anti-aircraft defence is coping [with these threats], 70% [of drones] have been shot down”, but “Shahed terror may actually last for a while”.

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At the same time, the Russians’ stockpile of missiles is almost exhausted.

Quote by Budanov: “About 13% is left of the Iskanders [stocks], about 43% of the Kalibr-PL, Kalibr-NK missiles, and about 45% [is left of the] Kh-101 and Kh-555 missile [stock]s. To go below 30% in general is very dangerous, because this means they are already using their ER [emergency reserves – ed.]

Russia has long ago started using its emergency reserves of Iskanders, but they are still trying to stay within the limits for the Kalibrs and the Kh-101s and  Kh-555s.”

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