Russia Has Changed Its Tactics for Round-the-Clock Drone Attacks – Expert

Military expert Oleg Zhdanov reported that Russian forces have changed the nature of their round-the-clock airstrikes on Ukrainian territory. While the enemy actively used jet-powered drones in September, by the end of October it had returned to the massive use of conventional “Shahed” and “Geran-2” attack UAVs, in an effort to simultaneously cover as many regions as possible with airstrikes.

According to the expert’s assessment, the enemy operates primarily “on the fly” due to limited capacity to build up large stockpiles of drones, launching them within the limits of current production volumes. 

In addition to drones, ballistic missiles—which Russia deploys every 7–10 days—remain a threat. According to Zhdanov, the main goal of these massive attacks is to wear down Ukraine’s air defense system and exert psychological pressure on society to force a surrender on the Kremlin’s terms. At the same time, the intensity of the shelling is tied to important international events, particularly diplomatic negotiations and the midterm elections in the United States.

The expert cites as effective countermeasures a profound transformation of the air defense system to intercept targets at short and medium ranges, the development of Ukraine’s own missile arsenal— including ballistic missiles, as well as increasing the power of systemic strikes against military-industrial complex facilities and launch sites on Russian territory.

Source: UNN.

A Russian drone struck near a school in Poltava; there are casualties.

In the Khmelnytskyi district, a gas station caught fire after debris from a Russian drone fell on it. Two people sustained minor injuries.

On the night of October 14 in Lutsk, a fire broke out at an oil depot after it was struck by an enemy drone. The fire started around 2:00 a.m.