Ukraine says it neutralised 2,282 of 2,597 Russian drones in a week

Ukraine's armed forces neutralised 2,282 of the 2,597 Russian drones launched at the country over the past week, an effectiveness rate of more than 87%, the General Staff said on 23 October. The figures are the Ukrainian military's own and could not be independently verified.

According to the General Staff's post on Telegram, Russia used Shahed-131, Shahed-136 and Shahed-238 attack drones, along with drones the Russian side calls "Parodiya" and "Gerbera". The statement did not give exact dates for the seven-day period, a breakdown by drone type, or details of damage and casualties.

By RealUA's calculation, the numbers mean about 315 drones were not neutralised. The General Staff did not say what became of them, for example whether they hit targets or were lost or crashed. The statement says only that air defence "does not eliminate the threat entirely".

What the General Staff says about Russian tactics

The General Staff said Russia is constantly refining how it uses drones. It said the enemy varies flight routes and altitudes, combines strike drones with decoys, and tries to overwhelm Ukrainian air defence with large numbers of simultaneous aerial threats.

It credited the result to the combined work of aircraft, anti-aircraft missile units, mobile fire groups, electronic warfare systems and operators of unmanned systems. It said every neutralised target reduces the risk of deaths, destroyed homes and damage to energy and other critical infrastructure.

The General Staff again urged citizens not to ignore air-raid alerts and not to share information about how air defence is working. It said Ukraine is continuing to strengthen its layered air defence system and to improve how it detects and neutralises targets.

Background: what "neutralised" means

In Ukrainian military reporting, "neutralised" generally covers drones both shot down and suppressed, for example by electronic warfare that jams or diverts them. RealUA's earlier reports on the General Staff's overnight figures use the same wording, "downed or suppressed". That means the weekly figure does not show how many drones were physically destroyed.

Shahed-type drones are Iranian-designed long-range attack drones that Russia now produces and uses in large numbers. Gerbera is a Russian drone commonly described as a decoy, though some variants can carry a warhead. Decoys are cheaper than strike drones and force air defence to spend resources on them.

Recent weeks of heavy attacks

The weekly total comes after a period of intense Russian aerial attacks, much of it aimed at Ukraine's energy system. RealUA reported on 15 October that Zelensky said Russia had launched more than 850 Shahed drones in a single day, with dozens of hits and six deaths. Zelensky linked that escalation to signals of US sanctions relief; the claim is his own.

RealUA has also reported on Russia's growing use of jet-powered Shaheds, which are faster and harder to intercept than the propeller-driven versions. In one overnight attack into 11 October, 95 of 116 attack drones were jet-powered, according to the figures reported at the time. Separately, Ukraine's Defence Ministry said this month that Defence Forces had neutralised 408,000 Russian drones since the start of 2026, including more than 35,000 Shahed-type drones. Those figures are also official and unverified.

The week's overall success rate is an average. Individual nights vary. For example, the General Staff reported that air defence downed or suppressed 152 of 180 Shaheds overnight into 18 October, and 89 of 121 drones overnight into 12 October.