Russia steps up drone attacks in Ukraine by 44% following Trump victory

ABC News shared its analysis.

Over the past five weeks, about 4,500 UAVs have crossed the Russian-Ukrainian border in both directions.

“But Trump's electoral victory — confirmed in the early hours of Nov. 6 — aligned with an uptick in Moscow's use of Iranian-produced Shahed strike drones to bombard Ukrainian targets nationwide,” the journalists said.

In the week following Trump's victory, Russia launched 641 attack drones at Ukraine, averaging more than 91 UAVs daily, according to daily data from the Ukrainian Air Force.

Ukraine's Air Force recorded 2,286 launches into its territory between October 1 and November 5, an average of less than 64 UAVs per day.

The daily number of Russian drones exceeded 100 for three of the seven days following the U.S. presidential election, a threshold reached only five times in the previous five weeks. The record of 145 drones was set on November 10.

Russia also launches ballistic missiles alongside its drones, although much less frequently. Ukraine's Air Force reported 88 missiles fired at the country from October 1 to November 5, and 12 missiles in the week after the election. This translated into an average of just over 2 Russian missiles in the period before the election and just under 2 after.

The level of attacks by Ukrainian drones has been stable since the beginning of October, according to real-time data released by the Russian Defense Ministry.

Moscow reported shooting down 1,277 UAVs from October 1 to November 5 - an average of just over 35 UAVs daily. In the week after the election, Russian air defense shot down 243 drones, an average of just under 35 drones per day, the ministry said.

ABC News could not independently verify the figures provided by either defense ministry. The publicly available totals do not include short-range and reconnaissance drones used on the front lines. 

“Both Russia and Ukraine may have reasons to inflate the figures and war conditions mean details can be hard to confirm. Nonetheless, the general trend is toward larger and more regular drone barrages,” ABC News writes.

• On the night of November 15, the Ukrainian Defense Forces destroyed one of two Kh-59/69 missiles and 25 of 29 Shahed-type attack UAVs that Russia fired at Ukraine.
• A woman was killed and at least 8 others injured in a massive drone attack on Odesa.