Zelenskyy sets target of launching 1,000 drones at Russia per day

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has tasked the country's defence industry with ramping up production of long-range drones so that Ukraine's Armed Forces can launch up to 1,000 drones a day at targets in Russia.

Source: Zelenskyy's evening address following a meeting of the Staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief on 28 August

Details: Zelenskyy said that Ukraine's defence forces currently use more than 300 drones a day on average, but the defence industry has been tasked with significantly increasing this figure.

"The task is a thousand drones for long-range sanctions against Russia every day. [...] We have a very specific goal, and we will achieve it," he stressed.

The president explained the need to multiply production by the intensification of Russia's aerial terror and the widespread use of jet-powered Shahed drones.

Quote: "The Russians have chosen a tactic of intensifying terror: constant air-raid alerts, one after another in Kyiv, and unfortunately, it is specifically jet-powered Shaheds that are getting through. The same is happening in our other cities and communities – constant strikes on Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, the Sumy, Chernihiv, and Dnipro oblasts, and our Kherson."

Details: Meanwhile, the president called for faster production of interceptors capable of effectively neutralising Russian jet-powered drones.

According to Zelenskyy, regular strikes by Ukraine's defence forces on targets in Russia are already producing tangible economic and logistical results. Russia is experiencing a significant fuel shortage, forcing the country to import petrol and subsidise its oil industry for the first time in its history.

Quote: "There will be even more such losses for them if Russia does not want to talk rationally about ending this war.

There were also reports from our military on Novorossiysk – we are already achieving the result we need: no vessel is entering the port of Novorossiysk, and no vessel is leaving it. And every day without movement in Novorossiysk is a contribution to reducing Russia's war-making potential. We will definitely find ways to block their other ports as well."

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