Nearly 500 drones aimed at Ukraine in the past week, says Zelenskyy

Ukraine's president said yesterday that the country had been targeted by nearly 500 drones and more than 20 missiles in the past week, and complained that Russia was using the country as "a testing ground" for its munitions.

- Dan Sabbagh

Though Russia's first ever use of the Oreshnik intermediate range ballistic missile on Dnipro on Thursday captured global attention, Volodymyr Zelenskyy highlighted the increased level of Shahed drone attacks.

Fifty drones were shot down on Saturday night, out of 73, Zelenskyy said. Over the previous week, he said, a total of 460 of the Iranian-designed drones had been launched by Russia into Ukraine's airspace.

"Ukraine is not a testing ground for weapons. Ukraine is a sovereign and independent state. But Russia still continues its efforts to kill our people, spread fear and panic, and weaken us," Zelenskyy said yesterday morning.

Ukraine says Russia has set up two factories to make the delta-winged Shahed 136 drones, called Geran-2 by Moscow, in Tatarstan, about 800 miles from the border. Production amounted to "hundreds per week", said a government source in Kyiv.

The drones are often fired into Ukraine as soon as they are ready and, while they remain easier to shoot down or neutralise than high-speed missiles, they tie up air defences and, with a 50kg warhead, can cause serious damage.