Designed to kill civilians: Defense Express on Russia’s shrapnel-filled Shahed drones

Military expert Oleh Katkov, editor-in-chief of Defense Express, shared his opinions with Espreso TV.

“The June 10 attack mainly targeted the Ukrainian capital and lasted about two hours. The enemy used a combined strike with ballistic missiles, long-range kamikaze drones called ‘Shahed,’ decoy drones, and ground-based cruise missiles from the R-500 Iskander system. Ukrainian forces shot down KN-23 cruise and ballistic missiles. The enemy has been using more than 300 drones for a long time — half are decoys and half are Shaheds,” he said.

Katkov added that Russia now produces 90 to 100 Shahed drones daily, according to Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence. Not all 100 drones are used each day, but about half. After a few days, they use a much larger number of drones in their attacks.

“During the strikes, the enemy simultaneously uses drones with Shaheds that are false targets, such as Parodies and Gerberas made of foam. They have a different sound, and the decoys have a smaller internal combustion engine. Although the sound of the Shaheds can vary, as it depends on the production batch: there are Shaheds manufactured in Yelabuga, such as Geran-2, and there are those manufactured at the plant in Izhevsk, Garpiya. The enemy is not showing any new tactics for using drones, and our Air Force is demonstrating a fairly high percentage of neutralization of such targets," noted the editor-in-chief of Defense Express.

Katkov noted that Russia is constantly modernizing its Shaheds, upgrading their warheads, and information about the use of a 50 kg thermobaric fragmentation warhead appeared as early as 2024.

"Such drones have a thermobaric warhead, its body is additionally covered with several thousand steel balls of about 9 mm, which are striking elements. I will say directly that such a warhead is designed to kill civilians. It was specially created and designed by Russian weapons manufacturers to kill civilians," the military expert concluded.

During the night attack on Tuesday, June 10, Ukraine’s air defenses destroyed 284 enemy targets in the sky.

Russian air strikes hit 11 locations, and debris fell in 16 places. There are reports of deaths, injuries, and serious damage in Odesa and Kyiv. You can read more about the attack’s effects at the link.

Yuriy Ihnat, head of communications for the Ukrainian Air Force, said the Russian forces used shrapnel-filled Shaheds during the Kyiv attack on the night of June 10.