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First Post
21-07-2025
- Politics
- First Post
Russia could soon attack Ukraine with 2,000 drones at once, warns German general
At a time when Vladimir Putin has escalated his war on Ukraine, a German general has warned that Russia could soon attack Ukraine with up to 2,000 drones at once. read more Flames and smoke billow from buildings during mass Russian drones and missile strikes on the Ukraine's capital Kyiv on July 4, 2025, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo: OLEKSII FILIPPOV/AFP) As Vladimir Putin has ramped up the war on Ukraine, a German general has warned that Russia could soon attack with up to 2,000 drones at once. For weeks, Russia has been attacking Ukraine with hundreds of drones and missiles on a near-daily basis. It has ramped up attacks consistently and mounted the largest barrage with 741 drones and missiles on the night of July 8-9. Russia is actively expanding its drone production capacity and could soon attack Ukraine with up to 2,000 drones at once, according to Major General Christian Freuding, the head of the Situation Center for Ukraine at Germany's Ministry of Defense. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD In an interview with the German military's 'Nachgefragt' programme, Freuding said that such mass deployment of drones could present a major challenge for Ukraine's air defence systems, which are not optimised for intercepting large volumes of low-cost drones simultaneously, according to a translation of his remarks. From a high of around 500 drones and missiles on Ukraine in overnight attacks, Russia went to raining more than 700 drones and missiles in a matter of mere weeks, suggesting it has huge stockpile, well-oiled production capacity, and smooth supply chains. Russia is not alone in its war efforts. China has not just kept the Russian economy afloat by making up for the loss of trade after the invasion of Ukraine but has also provided Russia with drones, machinery to make weapons, and dual-use goods used to make weapons. Iran has provided Russia with several thousands of drones and has also transferred the production know-how. Russia is playing low cost-high effect game against Ukraine Freuding flagged that the cost of launching these attacks is much less for Russia than the cost of tackling these attacks for Ukraine and its partners. While an Iranian-origin Shahed drone costs €30,000 and €50,000, one Patriot interceptor missiles costs more than €5 million, according to Freuding. The US-origin Patriot missile is the mainstay of Ukrainian air defence against Russian missiles and some high-end drones. Due to costs, Ukraine uses conventional anti-aircraft guns, interceptor drones, and electronic warfare to take down drones and reserves Patriot interceptors for largely taking down Russian missiles. Freuding said that Ukraine needs cost-effective air-defence systems, ideally in the €2,000–€4,000 range per interception. The development of such systems is essential to respond effectively to large-scale Russian drone attacks, said Freuding. 'Russia is trying to exhaust Ukraine's air defence supplies' With such continuous attacks, Russia is trying to exhaust Ukraine's air defence supplies, according to Michael Kofman, an analyst focussed on the Russian war on Ukraine, who serves at a Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. 'They [Russians] target population centres because they're trying to exhaust Ukrainian air defence, and they know Ukrainian air defence will prioritise defending the cities and critical infrastructure,' Kofman told The Telegraph earlier this month. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD At the beginning of this month, Russia launched 537 drones and missiles over the weekend — the highest in the war until then. A few days later, Russia broke the record with 550 drones and missiles. Days later, Russia again broke the record with 741 drones and missiles. Despite such attacks, US President Donald Trump has refused to take any punitive action against Putin, who has continued to refuse to make peace. Instead, he has given him a 50-day window to hit Ukraine with all that he has got.
The Irish Sun
21-07-2025
- Politics
- The Irish Sun
Horror warning as Putin plans to launch apocalyptic wave of TWO THOUSAND killer drones at Ukraine in overwhelming blitz
TWISTED Vladimir Putin is planning to launch an apocalyptic wave of 2,000 drones at Ukraine all at once, warns a top European general. Footage shows Russia Advertisement 8 Russia is reportedly mass producing thousands of deadly drones ahead of a looming blitz on Ukraine Credit: X 8 Vladimir Putin's 'death drone factory' is production Shahed weapons at an alarming rate Credit: X 8 The deadly Shahed drones have caused years of pain for Ukraine during the conflict with Putin constantly deploying them in civilian areas such as the Kirovohrad region Credit: X/ZelenskyyUa German Major General Christian Freuding says his team has uncovered worrying intelligence which points towards Putin's next attack plan. The tyrant has ramped up his nightly offensives in recent weeks with constant bombardments on Ukrainian civilians. The attacks come amid pressure from the US and Europe for Russia to agree to a ceasefire to finally end the conflict. US President Donald Trump even imposed a Advertisement read more in Ukraine war But the constant warnings have done little to stop Putin. Freuding now believes that Russia is significantly expanding its weapons production capacity to help enable a mass drone deployment in the coming months. He claims that Moscow plans to launch 2,000 Shahed drones simultaneously. The Iranian made unmanned aircraft has been a key weapon in Moscow's arsenal during the three years of conflict. Advertisement Most read in The US Sun Exclusive Warped Russian state TV has shown off mad Vlad's "drone death factory" packed out with the kamikaze killers. The channel boasted about the "scale of this production" at the plant as they showed off "huge, bright workshops in which you can get lost" in. Putin blitzes Ukrainian shopping centre with half-ton glide bomb killing two They claim that "hundreds of machines, thousands of workers" are in the factory each day. These include teenagers who have been recruited to support Putin's war after being "educated" - or indoctrinated - at a special drone university. Advertisement Along with his catastrophic warning, Freuding also stressed that Ukraine needs to develop "smart countermeasures" to stop any looming attacks. He believes Kyiv needs to deploy low-cost defensive drones to repel large-scale blitzes. This way they can produce thousands of unmanned weapons instead of relying on a high-cost system such as the Patriot. The missile defence system costs around $5million and despite being highly accurate it is likely to be overwhelmed by the surging waves of drones. Advertisement Freuding added that Ukraine could also launch strikes deep inside Russian territory which target military aircraft, airfields and defence factories to put Moscow on the back foot. Russia's aerial threats have been a key fear for Ukraine and their allies in recent weeks. 8 Russian state media claims that 'hundreds of machines, thousands of workers' are in the factory each day Credit: X 8 Putin has been using his Ram 1500 trucks to transport the drones across the country Credit: X Advertisement 8 Firefighters try to extinguish a fire at a gas station in the Nemyshlyan district targeted and hit by the Russian shahed drones in Kharkiv Credit: Getty At the start of July, experts warned Russia could soon hammer Ukraine with Russia's defence industry is expanding their projects rapidly to increase their supply lines - including at the "death drone factory". Advertisement On June 1, a 479-strong wave of drones and missiles became June 9 saw that broken with 499, then again on June 29 with 537. At the start of the month, Putin terrorised Kyiv with a Ukraine has valiantly hit back across the past week with them launching Advertisement Trump's 50-day peace deadline for Vlad THE Kremlin mocked Donald Trump's 50-day peace deadline and may now demand even more Ukrainian territory instead of trying to sign peace. Vladimir Putin will instead keep terrorising Ukrainian civilians during the seven-week period, sources said. The furious US President said he is 'very unhappy' with Russia as he warned of 100 per cent secondary tariffs on Moscow should they continue to blitz Ukraine. Trump said he wants the war to end, but doubled down on his frustration with Putin, saying he's "disappointed" in the Russian leader. But a snarling Putin has always declined and instead ramped up his ground and aerial offensives across Ukraine. He also vowed to send US weapons - compromising of "everything" in their arsenal - to Nato so they can distribute them to Kyiv. 8 The wreckage of Shahed drone shot down in Ukraine Credit: X 8 A 9-story residential building in the Dniprovskyi district damaged by a Russian drone strike earlier this year Credit: Getty
Scottish Sun
21-07-2025
- Politics
- Scottish Sun
Horror warning as Putin plans to launch apocalyptic wave of TWO THOUSAND killer drones at Ukraine in overwhelming blitz
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) TWISTED Vladimir Putin is planning to launch an apocalyptic wave of 2,000 drones at Ukraine all at once, warns a top European general. Footage shows Russia mass producing the deadly weapons with Moscow reportedly looking to overwhelm Ukrainian air defences with the incoming blitz. 8 Russia is reportedly mass producing thousands of deadly drones ahead of a looming blitz on Ukraine Credit: X 8 Vladimir Putin's 'death drone factory' is production Shahed weapons at an alarming rate Credit: X 8 The deadly Shahed drones have caused years of pain for Ukraine during the conflict with Putin constantly deploying them in civilian areas such as the Kirovohrad region Credit: X/ZelenskyyUa German Major General Christian Freuding says his team has uncovered worrying intelligence which points towards Putin's next attack plan. The tyrant has ramped up his nightly offensives in recent weeks with constant bombardments on Ukrainian civilians. The attacks come amid pressure from the US and Europe for Russia to agree to a ceasefire to finally end the conflict. US President Donald Trump even imposed a 50-day peace deadline on Putin this month. But the constant warnings have done little to stop Putin. Freuding now believes that Russia is significantly expanding its weapons production capacity to help enable a mass drone deployment in the coming months. He claims that Moscow plans to launch 2,000 Shahed drones simultaneously. The Iranian made unmanned aircraft has been a key weapon in Moscow's arsenal during the three years of conflict. Warped Russian state TV has shown off mad Vlad's "drone death factory" packed out with the kamikaze killers. The channel boasted about the "scale of this production" at the plant as they showed off "huge, bright workshops in which you can get lost" in. Putin blitzes Ukrainian shopping centre with half-ton glide bomb killing two They claim that "hundreds of machines, thousands of workers" are in the factory each day. These include teenagers who have been recruited to support Putin's war after being "educated" - or indoctrinated - at a special drone university. Along with his catastrophic warning, Freuding also stressed that Ukraine needs to develop "smart countermeasures" to stop any looming attacks. He believes Kyiv needs to deploy low-cost defensive drones to repel large-scale blitzes. This way they can produce thousands of unmanned weapons instead of relying on a high-cost system such as the Patriot. The missile defence system costs around $5million and despite being highly accurate it is likely to be overwhelmed by the surging waves of drones. Freuding added that Ukraine could also launch strikes deep inside Russian territory which target military aircraft, airfields and defence factories to put Moscow on the back foot. Russia's aerial threats have been a key fear for Ukraine and their allies in recent weeks. 8 Russian state media claims that 'hundreds of machines, thousands of workers' are in the factory each day Credit: X 8 Putin has been using his Ram 1500 trucks to transport the drones across the country Credit: X 8 Firefighters try to extinguish a fire at a gas station in the Nemyshlyan district targeted and hit by the Russian shahed drones in Kharkiv Credit: Getty At the start of July, experts warned Russia could soon hammer Ukraine with 1,000 drones and missiles every day. Russia's defence industry is expanding their projects rapidly to increase their supply lines - including at the "death drone factory". Moscow's firepower capacity has constantly increased this year with his forces regularly breaking the record for the largest daily volley of weapons. On June 1, a 479-strong wave of drones and missiles became Russia's largest unmanned aerial assault of the war. June 9 saw that broken with 499, then again on June 29 with 537. At the start of the month, Putin terrorised Kyiv with a firestorm of 550 drones and missiles - marking his largest attack yet. Ukraine has valiantly hit back across the past week with them launching five straight days of drone attacks on Moscow. Trump's 50-day peace deadline for Vlad THE Kremlin mocked Donald Trump's 50-day peace deadline and may now demand even more Ukrainian territory instead of trying to sign peace. Vladimir Putin will instead keep terrorising Ukrainian civilians during the seven-week period, sources said. The furious US President said he is 'very unhappy' with Russia as he warned of 100 per cent secondary tariffs on Moscow should they continue to blitz Ukraine. Trump said he wants the war to end, but doubled down on his frustration with Putin, saying he's "disappointed" in the Russian leader. But a snarling Putin has always declined and instead ramped up his ground and aerial offensives across Ukraine. He also vowed to send US weapons - compromising of "everything" in their arsenal - to Nato so they can distribute them to Kyiv. Read more here. 8 The wreckage of Shahed drone shot down in Ukraine Credit: X
Business Insider
21-07-2025
- Politics
- Business Insider
Russia is making so many Iranian Shahed drones that it could soon launch 2,000 of them in a single night
The Kremlin is building its way toward a reality where it can soon launch 2,000 Shahed one-way attack drones in one night, according to two recent Western assessments. Maj. Gen. Christian Freuding, the German defense ministry's commander of planning and command staff, said in a Bundeswehr interview aired on Saturday that Russia was "striving to further increase production capacity" of its Shaheds. "They want to expand the drone attacks we just talked about," Freuding said. "The ambition is to be able to deploy 2,000 drones simultaneously." "We need to consider intelligent countermeasures," he added. In a separate assessment on Sunday, the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, wrote that Russia's per-night use of Shahed drones increased by 31% each month in June and July. "ISW assesses that Russia may be able to launch up to 2,000 drones in one night by November 2025, should this current growth trend in drone usage continue," its analysts wrote. However, they added that Russia likely wouldn't be able to consistently sustain 2,000 drone launches per day. Still, such capacity would be a stark jump from the fall of 2024, when Russia was launching roughly 2,000 drones a month at Ukraine. Shaheds are long-range Iranian exploding drones with estimated ranges of 600 to 1,200 miles, depending on the design. This year, Russia has continually increased the number of Shaheds and decoy drones it launches a night at Ukraine, recently peaking at 728 uncrewed aerial vehicles in one salvo earlier this month. Russia's Shahed production on the rise As these numbers surge, Ukraine and its allies fear that Russia's nightly attacks will overwhelm Kyiv's air defenses. "There will be 1,000 units per day and more. I'm not trying to scare anyone," wrote Robert "Madyar" Brovdi, commander of Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces, wrote on July 4 about Russia's Shahed capacity. The Shahed is of Iranian design, but Russia has also been manufacturing its own versions of the drone locally in the Yelabuga Special Economic Zone since early 2023. Western governments and analysts say some vital parts for production come from China. In April, analysts from the International Institute for Strategic Studies wrote that satellite imagery showed that the area of Shahed-producing facilities has doubled since 2023. "Despite a steady flow of Shahed-136s from Iran, Moscow is heavily investing in its own production facilities," the IISS analysts wrote. Ukraine has periodically tried to strike Yelabuga with its own long-range fixed-wing drones, but it's unclear if the factories have sustained any significant damage. Kyiv's military intelligence also said in February that it had found production markings on some attack drones that mention the city of Izhevsk, possibly pointing to another production line there. NATO and Ukraine need cheaper defenses Freuding, the German general, said that against such quantity, it would be nonsensical to rely on expensive Western interceptors such as the Patriot system to destroy Shaheds. "We essentially need countermeasures that cost two, three, four thousand euros," he said. By comparison, a single Patriot system costs the US government $1.1 billion, and one of its missiles can cost about $4 million. Ukraine now uses a multilayered air defense network against Shahed waves, including surface-to-air missiles, air-launched missiles, and mobile fire groups that try to shoot down the Iranian drones with machine guns. A locally made interceptor drone, the Sting, is becoming popular, too. But Russia also fires ballistic missiles in tandem with the Shahed drones, and these require more advanced, long-range air defenses such as the Patriot to intercept. Kyiv is trying to persuade the US and its allies to provide it with more Patriot systems.
Yahoo
07-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Operation Spider's Web: Germany estimates that Ukraine damaged 10% of Russian strategic aircraft
Ukraine's drone attack on Russian airfields on 1 June probably damaged about 10% of Russia's strategic bomber fleet, German Major General Christian Freuding has said. Source: Freuding in a podcast, as reported by European Pravda, citing Reuters Quote: "According to our assessment, more than a dozen aircraft were damaged, TU-95 and TU-22 strategic bombers as well as A-50 surveillance planes." Details: According to the general, who coordinates Berlin's military assistance to Kyiv and works closely with the Ukrainian Defence Ministry, the A-50s, which have a similar function to NATO's AWACS aircraft in providing air surveillance, were probably not in working order. "We believe that they can no longer be used for spare parts. This is a loss, as only a handful of these aircraft exist," he said. "As for the long-range bomber fleet, 10% of it has been damaged in the attack according to our assessment," Freuding added. The United States estimates that the daring Ukrainian drone attack hit up to 20 Russian warplanes, destroying about 10 of them, two US officials told Reuters. Experts say it will take Moscow years to replace the affected aircraft. Despite the losses, Freuding sees no immediate reduction in Russian strikes on Ukraine, noting that Moscow still retains 90% of its strategic bombers, which can launch ballistic and cruise missiles in addition to dropping bombs. "But there is, of course, an indirect effect as the remaining planes will need to fly more sorties, meaning they will be worn out faster, and, most importantly, there is a huge psychological impact," he said. Freuding said that Russia felt secure in its vast territory, which also explains why the aircraft were not well protected. "After this successful operation, this no longer holds true. Russia will need to ramp up the security measures," the general said. Background: On 1 June 2025, the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) carried out a special operation codenamed Pavutyna ("Spider's Web"), hitting Russian strategic jets at four airfields. SSU head Vasyl Maliuk stated that 34% of strategic cruise missile carriers at Russia's main airfields had been destroyed. The SSU said the estimated cost of the equipment destroyed as a result of Operation Spider's Web is over US$7 billion. A senior NATO official called the operation the most successful one yet. The Alliance estimated that at least 40 aircraft were damaged. Between 10 and 13 aircraft were completely destroyed. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has emphasised that the security services used exclusively Ukrainian weapons in this operation and did not use equipment from allied warehouses. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!
