Russia plans 1,000 daily drone strikes on Ukraine by 2026

Monday 19 January 2026 - 08:50

By: Dakir Madiha

Russia plans 1,000 daily drone strikes on Ukraine by 2026

Ukraine's top military commander warns that Russia aims to more than double its daily attack drone output by next year, enabling up to 1,000 unmanned aerial vehicles launched against Ukrainian targets each day. General Oleksandr Syrskyi shared these details in a January 18 interview with LB.ua, noting current production at 404 Shahed loitering munitions per day with plans for a massive ramp-up. The revelation comes amid one of the war's most grueling weeks of aerial assaults, nearly four years into the full-scale invasion.

From January 12 to 18, Russian forces unleashed over 1,300 attack drones, about 1,050 guided bombs, and 29 missiles on Ukrainian sites, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported that day. A single nighttime barrage on January 18 involved more than 200 drones, killing two people and wounding dozens across six regions including Kharkiv, Sumy, and Odesa. Syrskyi stressed the need to sabotage these ambitions: "We must disrupt these plans and inflict losses so heavy that the enemy abandons active operations."

Major Ukrainian cities like Kyiv faced power and heating outages as Russia hammered an already strained grid during a deep freeze dipping below minus 16 degrees Celsius. By January 17, much of the capital ran on backup generators with streetlights at 20% capacity; the city opened over 1,300 warming centers to cope.

This drone surge fits broader Russian military blueprints for 2026. Syrskyi disclosed Moscow's intent to form at least 11 new divisions and mobilize 409,000 troops this year, drawing from a mobilization pool exceeding 20 million, including 4.5 million already trained. Andrii Kovalenko of Ukraine's Center for Countering Disinformation cautioned that Russia's drone buildup threatens not just Ukraine but NATO's eastern flank: "It's a Russian drone, not a Russian infantryman, that will cross the alliance's border first," he posted on Telegram.

Russia has localized nearly 90% of Shahed production at Tatarstan's Alabuga special economic zone, slashing reliance on Iranian aid. Chinese exports of key drone parts like fiber-optic cables and lithium-ion batteries surged since mid-2025, fueling Moscow's strike capabilities. On the drone race, Syrskyi acknowledged rough parity in numbers but highlighted qualitative edges: Ukraine leads in conventional drones, while lagging on fiber-optic models where Russia holds the advantage for now.