Ukraine again surpasses Russia in the drone war: “We cannot keep up with them”

MoscowPessimism has taken hold of Russian military commentators. After the Kremlin's army managed to close the gap with Ukraine in the drone race in the autumn of 2025, in recent weeks Kyiv's unmanned aerial vehicles have once again left Russian technology behind. Their superiority on the front has helped to slow down Volodymyr Putin's spring offensive, while, for the first time since the start of the invasion, more long-range Ukrainian drones than Russian ones are being launched.the distance to Ukraine in the drone raceThe ability to disrupt Kyiv's troop supplies was one of the successes of the Molnia-2, the Russian attack drone that allowed the Kremlin to increase pressure on the Ukrainian rear in late last year and facilitated the progress of Russian soldiers. Now, however, it is the new generation of Ukrainian drones that is causing Moscow's troops to falter. In March, they only advanced 25 square kilometers, according to military observers from the Blackbird group, far from the monthly average of 380 in 2025. The great hope of Russian commanders is that, with the arrival of good weather, the foliage of the trees will serve their men to camouflage themselves from the threat from the sky and allow them to survive the so-called

killing zone.

This resource, however, will not prevent long-range bombings. During the past month, Ukraine sent over 7,000 drones against Russian infrastructure, about 2,500 more than in February, while Russia also launched a record number, although it was below 6,500. This has resulted in practically daily attacks on Russian oil export terminals, refineries, armament factories, and chemical components, and even against one of the three Russian frigates, theAdmiral Makarov.

One of Russia's most popular military bloggers, Yuri Podolyaka, recently stated: "The enemy has started to surpass us with drones. We are unable to keep up with them. We are falling behind." According to him, the Ukrainian army has shown that it can launch "strategic offensive operations" deep within the country, while the Russian army has shown no signs of being capable of doing so. Therefore, he concludes: "I am really worried that the enemy may carry out some action this summer that will make insignificant what they did last summer," probably referring to the Spiderweb operation, with which Ukraine hit military airfields located hundreds of kilometers from its border.

Obsolete technology

One of the explanations for the end of Moscow's advantage is the disconnection of Russian terminals from the Starlink satellite network by Elon Musk's decision. Now the Kremlin's troops are using the Russian Spirit-030 satellites, but, as blogger Zapiski Veterana writes, "they provide a delayed signal and are vulnerable to electronic warfare." "We are forced to rely on obsolete technology, sometimes blindly and suffering unnecessary losses," he adds.

Russia is also having problems with air defenses. Russian systems are unable to intercept the enormous number of Ukrainian drones. Military commentator Vladimir Romanov denounces "a very serious shortage of missiles" to protect Russian territory, especially those fired from the Pantsir mobile systems – one of the last layers of defense against Ukrainian aircraft – which "are often left without ammunition."

At the same time, Kyiv's drones are more difficult to detect. Ukrainian pilots have managed to hit 85 Russian radars since the beginning of the year, whereas in the last three months of 2025 they had only disabled 25. And, according to Russian veteran Yegor Guzenko, there is another reason: Ukrainian aircraft are equipped with American technology, tested in NASA missions to Mars, which gives them full autonomy, protects them against hacking attempts, and facilitates GPS-free flight. "The most unpleasant moment is the final stretch of the journey, when they completely disconnect the drone's radio and video transmission, and ordinary detectors do not see it," he writes.