Russia intensifies Shahed drones launches because it has received or expects new batch from Iran - ISW

This is reported by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

On the night of December 30, Russian invaders attacked Ukraine with 16 Shahed-131 and 136 ‘kamikaze’ drones. The air defence system shot down all enemy UAVs.

Analysts recalled that the attack took place after a massive Russian missile strike on Ukrainian critical infrastructure on December 29. Then the invaders launched 23 drones.

The report indicates that over the past two days, the Russian forces have used 39 UAVs. Analysts also add 30, which were launched by the enemy on the night of December 18-19, and on December 13-14.

"An increased pace of Russian drone attacks may indicate that Russian forces accumulated more Iranian-made drones after a three-week period (November 17 to December 7) of not using them or that Russia received or expected to receive a new shipment of drones from Iran," the experts say.

The Institute for the Study of War suggests that the occupiers have increased the pace of UAV attacks, trying to maintain their campaign against critical infrastructure, given the depletion of high-precision missiles.

"Ukrainian air defenses have recently proven to be highly effective at shooting down Shahed drones and the Russian military’s use of these systems in attacks against civilian targets in rear areas is having diminishing impacts.The Russian military will likely continue to commit an increased number of these systems to attacks on civilian targets in Ukraine in its misguided attempt to break the Ukrainian will to fight," the analysts concluded.

• On the night of December 30, the Defense Forces shot down 16 enemy Shahed drones.