October Was Record Month For Drone Warfare Between Russia & Ukraine

Ukraine launched another wave of drones on Russia overnight, with Russia’s military saying early Friday that its air defense systems intercepted 83 Ukrainian drones across several regions, including over Crimea.

But at least some of the drones made it through, causing significant damage at an oil depot in the town of Svetlograd in southwest Russia. Regional Governor Vladimir Vladimirov described that an unmanned aircraft “fell” into the Svetlograd oil facility, but without causing casualties. Such large UAV attacks have been almost daily, and coming for weeks.

Social media videos circulated in the aftermath of the attack, showing a large blaze – which appeared to be quickly extinguished. The depot is owned by state oil giant Rosneft.

Bryansk and Kursk regions also saw waves of inbound drones overnight, with the military saying it downed 20 over Bryansk and 36 over Kursk. At least a dozen were also intercepted over Crimea.

On the other side of the conflict, Ukraine’s General Staff said Russia launched a record 2,023 drones across the border for the month of October. There have been some days in October when over a hundred drones were sent from Ukraine in a single 24 hour period – with the same from the Russian side on Ukraine as well.

Ukraine’s energy infrastructure has been heavily impacted, with rolling blackouts across many parts of the country now a regular part of daily life. Russia has been much less impacted, and its infrastructure vaster.

Earlier this week Russia’s defense ministry announced more key gains in the Donetsk region. The military is now in control of Ukrainian town of Selydove, just southeast of the larger strategic city of Pokrovsk.

CNN has observed that “Selydove was an important staging area for Ukraine’s defenses and a key foothold to prevent Russia’s advance toward Pokrovsk.”

Ukrainian forces on the frontlines in the region have complained of multiple attacks from all directions of late. Russia has the artillery and manpower to keep up a constant assault, while Kiev forces lack both.

Russia “continues to assault with very large troop numbers. They used reserves from the north of the frontline’s Pokrovsk section to increase pressure on Selydove,” 15th brigade national guard spokesman Vitaliy Milovidov said on Tuesday.

Overnight, Ukrainian attack drones successfully struck a Russian fuel storage depot in Svetlograd, Stavropol Krai, setting multiple tanks alight.

Seen here, a Ukrainian drone slams into the Russian depot, detonating. pic.twitter.com/FRNxeKJLAH

— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) November 1, 2024

“At the same time, the enemy is not destroying the city’s infrastructure,” he explained. “Most likely, they want to keep the town as a foothold for themselves in the future. Selydove is a large town where you can accommodate a large number of people and hide equipment.”

Russian forces are currently engaged in several offensives across the east and they are within a few kilometers of Pokrovsk; that’s spitting distance for their artillery and guided FAB munitions. Their strategy so far has been to encircle urban centers and slowly squeeze Ukrainian defense units out, which means the battle for Pokrovsk will soon be on the horizon at this rate.