Ukraine's army shoots down 228 UAVs in February, including 116 Lancets

Lieutenant General Oleksandr Pavliuk, Commander of the Ukrainian Ground Forces, released statistics according to which the Air Defense Forces destroyed 228 attack drones in February 2024, most of which were Lancet 'kamikaze' drones - 116 units, and Shahed-131/136 'kamikaze drones' - 64 units, Defense Express writes.

In addition, 27 Zala reconnaissance drones, 14 Orlan-10 drones, 3 SuperCam reconnaissance drones, and 7 other drones of an undetermined type were shot down.

These statistics are indicative in several ways, and reflect, in particular, the priorities of the Russian army in the use of certain types of drones at the front.

In the case of the Lancet drones, the situation seems clear, as this type of UAV is actively used by Russia to attack various types of equipment of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. And here, in particular, we can recall the episode when the armor of the Bohdana self-propelled howitzer withstood a Lancet hit.

In addition, it should be noted that Lancets usually work "in pairs" with reconnaissance UAVs, mostly Zala. These could be shot down in order to possibly disrupt the Lancet strike.

In turn, the figure of 64 downed Shaheds may be due to the fact that at the end of January 2024, Russia redirected these drones after changing the combat unit to other targets, including important infrastructure in the frontline areas of Ukraine.