Russia’s military has launched thousands of missiles and drones at Ukraine over the past month, stepping up the intensity of attacks in a terrifying tempo that has driven many Ukrainian civilians underground, seeking safety in bomb shelters every night.

Last week saw the biggest attacks since Russian launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

But with long-standing sanctions packages in place – and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy calling on Wednesday for even tougher sanctions still – where does Russia’s seemingly endless supply of drones come from?

“We’ve really seen a surge in the use of these long-range drones,” Fabian Hoffmann, a military technology expert at the University of Oslo, told FOX Business.

HEGSETH TEARS UP RED TAPE, ORDERS PENTAGON TO BEGIN DRONE SURGE AT TRUMP’S COMMAND

“They’re easy to manufacture, basically a wooden construct with lightweight material and a warhead inside it. The biggest bottleneck in production will be procuring the conventional explosives, but the satellite navigation system, the inertial measurement unit, these things are fairly easy for Russia to produce or to get in the international markets.”

“The drones are not the same high military grade that we are used to in the West, but it is good enough,” he said.

Russia initially imported a couple of different Shahed drone variants from Iran, and when they saw how effective they could be, Moscow set up a licensed production agreement, which involved Iranian engineers and drone experts establishing production plants in Russia and importing many of the parts they needed.

JACK KEANE: PUTIN WANTS TRUMP ‘SO FRUSTRATED’ THAT HE STOPS AIDING UKRAINE

But the production systems rapidly evolved, with Russia developing its own version of the Shahed, called the Geran-2, which comes with upgrades.

“There have been at least six fairly major adaptations that the Russians have made to the Shahed drones, including just painting them black instead of white so it is more difficult to shoot down at night,” Hoffmann says.

“Russia is now the Shahed expert, even though the drone comes originally from Iran.”

The drones that Russia is firing in such huge numbers at Ukraine are slower and less powerful than conventional missiles, but their number one purpose is to saturate the skies and overwhelm defense systems. Ukraine has to use expensive interceptors to target the Shahed or Geran drones, and its defensive arsenal can quickly become depleted.

Zelenskyy said that on Tuesday night, “dozens of enemy targets were downed” using interceptor drones, and that his country is “scaling up” the interceptor drone technology.

At the start of the week, President Donald Trump promised to send more defensive weapons to Ukraine in the face of the renewed Russian aerial onslaught, just days after the Pentagon had paused weapons shipments, citing concerns that U.S. stockpiles might be running low.

US WILL ‘HAVE TO’ SEND WEAPONS TO UKRAINE, TRUMP SAYS DAYS AFTER PENGAGON PAUSE

Hoffmann says Ukraine could adopt a strategy of hitting drone launch sites, and target Russia’s defense industries, including factories that produce component parts for the drones like explosives, computer chips and other advanced electronics.

“Trying to deal with the drone attacks just using missile defenses is a losing game. Europeans are heavily bolstering air missile defense capabilities, but it is not enough. Russia is expanding its offensive capabilities faster, and offensive weapons are cheaper to produce than defensive,” he said.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth last week issued sweeping new orders to fast-track drone production and deployment, allowing commanders to procure and test them independently, as part of an aggressive push to outpace Russia and China in unmanned warfare.

The other area where the West could hit Russia’s capability to produce more drones and missiles is to sanction third countries, where the Kremlin has been able to skirt around international restrictions.

Countries including Malaysia and Kyrgyzstan have been flagged as hubs for transferring higher-level sanctioned components to Russia, says Hoffmann, who cautions that sanctions can end up hurting the countries imposing them by disrupting trade and global supply chains, and increasing costs.

It’s a harsh reality of international diplomacy.

“Sanctions against Russia are hurting us [in the West] to some extent. But if you start sanctioning every other country that does business with Russia, it would hurt us even more,” Hoffmann notes.

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Still, Zelenskyy said there is more that can be done by the international community to hurt Russia’s ability to buy weapons.

The latest wave of attacks, he wrote on X on Wednesday, are “yet another proof of the need for sanctions – biting sanctions against oil, which has been fueling Moscow’s war machine with money for over three years of war.”

Illia Novikov

Associated Press

Kyiv, Ukraine — The United States is selling weapons to its NATO allies in Europe so they can provide them to Ukraine as it struggles to fend off a recent escalation in Russia’s drone and missile attacks, President Donald Trump and his chief diplomat said.

“We’re sending weapons to NATO, and NATO is paying for those weapons, 100%,” Trump said in an interview with NBC News late Thursday. “So what we’re doing is, the weapons that are going out are going to NATO, and then NATO is going to be giving those weapons (to Ukraine), and NATO is paying for those weapons.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday that some of the U.S.-made weapons that Ukraine is seeking are deployed with NATO allies in Europe. Those weapons could be transferred to Ukraine, with European countries buying replacements from the U.S., he said.

“It’s a lot faster to move something, for example, from Germany to Ukraine than it is to order it from a (U.S.) factory and get it there,” Rubio told reporters during a visit to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Ukraine badly needs more U.S.-made Patriot air defense systems to stop Russian ballistic and cruise missiles. The Trump administration has gone back and forth about providing more vital military aid to Ukraine more than three years into Russia’s invasion.

After a brief pause in some weapons shipments, Trump said he would keep sending defensive weapons to Ukraine. U.S. officials said this week that some were on their way.

Ukraine is seeking more coveted Patriot air defense systems

NATO itself doesn’t send weapons to Ukraine or otherwise own or handle arms – which its 32 member nations take care of – but ships items like medical supplies and fuel.

“Allies continue to work to ensure that Ukraine has the support they need to defend themselves against Russia’s aggression,” NATO spokesperson Allison Hart said. “This includes urgent efforts to procure key supplies from the United States, including air defense and ammunition.”

Germany, Spain and other European countries possess Patriot missile systems, and some have placed orders for more, Rubio said.

The U.S. is encouraging its NATO allies “to provide those weapons, systems, the defensive systems that Ukraine seeks … since they have them in their stocks, and then we can enter into financial agreements with them, with us, where they can purchase the replacements,” Rubio said.

Ukraine has asked other countries to supply it with an additional 10 Patriot systems and missiles, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday. Germany is ready to provide two systems, and Norway has agreed to supply one, he said.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Thursday that officials “stand ready to acquire additional Patriot systems from the U.S. and make them available to Ukraine.”

Asked how many Patriot systems Germany is interested in buying, Merz didn’t give a number. But he said that he spoke to Trump a week ago “and asked him to deliver these systems.”

In addition to the Patriots, the weaponry that could be sold to NATO members includes advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles, shorter range missiles and Howitzer rounds, according to a person familiar with the internal White House debate. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private discussions.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment seeking more details.

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who has been in touch with Trump in recent days, said it’s in the U.S. national security interest to sell weapons to Ukraine, and “Europe can pay for them.”

“We have the best weapons. They sure as hell know how to use them,” Graham said in an interview in Rome while attending a meeting on the sidelines of a Ukraine recovery conference.

The ability of allies to purchase U.S. weapons for Ukraine would get around a possible stalemate from Congress in funding for Kyiv once the most recent Ukraine aid package approved last year runs out. Even with broad support in Congress for backing Ukraine, it’s unclear if more funding would be approved.

Russia has recently sought to overwhelm Ukraine’s air defenses by launching major aerial attacks. Earlier this week, Russia fired more than 700 attack and decoy drones at Ukraine, topping previous nightly barrages for the third time in two weeks.

At the same time, Russia’s bigger army is pressing hard on parts of the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line, where thousands of soldiers on both sides have died since the Kremlin ordered the invasion of neighboring Ukraine in February 2022.

Evolving stance on Putin

Trump’s efforts to facilitate Ukraine’s weapon supply come as he has signaled his displeasure with Russian President Vladimir Putin. At a Cabinet meeting this week, he said he was “not happy” with Putin over a conflict that was “killing a lot of people” on both sides.

Graham says Trump has given him the go-ahead to push forward with a bill he’s co-sponsoring that calls, in part, for a 500% tariff on goods imported from countries that continue to buy Russian oil. Trump said Tuesday that he’s “looking at it very strongly.”

In the NBC News interview, Trump teased that he will make a major announcement on Russia next week.

The U.S. president also has had a tumultuous relationship with Zelenskyy, which reached a low point during an Oval Office blowup in February when Trump berated him for being “disrespectful.” The relationship has since shown signs of rebounding.

The two leaders spoke by phone last week about Ukraine’s air defenses. Zelenskyy said Thursday that talks with Trump have been “very constructive.”

Impact of the latest Russian attacks

In the latest attacks, a Russian drone barrage targeted the center of Kharkiv just before dawn Friday, injuring nine people and damaging a maternity hospital in Ukraine’s second-largest city, officials said.

“There is no silence in Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said. A daytime drone attack on the southern city of Odesa also injured nine.

Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, has endured repeated and intensifying drone attacks in recent weeks, as have many other regions of the country, mostly at night.

June saw the highest monthly civilian casualties of the past three years, with 232 people killed and 1,343 wounded, the U.N. human rights mission in Ukraine said.

Other weapons sought by Ukraine

Zelenskyy urged Ukraine’s Western partners to quickly follow through on pledges they made at the international meeting in Rome on Thursday.

Ukraine needs more interceptor drones to bring down Russian-made Shahed drones, he said.

After repeated Russian drone and missile onslaughts, authorities said Friday they’re establishing a comprehensive drone interception system under a project called Clear Sky. It includes a $6.2 million investment in interceptor drones, operator training and new mobile response units, the Kyiv Military Administration said.

“We found a solution. … That’s the key,” Zelenskyy said. “We need financing. And then, we will intercept.”

___

Lee reported from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Novikov from Kyiv, Ukraine. AP writers Lorne Cook in Brussels, Geir Moulson in Berlin, Lisa Mascaro in Washington and Nicole Winfield in Rome contributed to this report.

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The Ukrainian air force’s air defence systems intercepted 711 out of 728 drones launched, and destroyed at least seven missiles.

– Russia launched the largest missile and drone attack against Ukraine, mainly targeting the west of the country, Ukrainian air force said on July 9.

Officials said that Russia had attacked with 728 drones and 13 missiles, adding that its air defence systems intercepted 711 drones and that at least seven missiles were destroyed.

“This is a telling attack – and it comes precisely at a time when so many efforts have been made to achieve peace, to establish a ceasefire, and yet only Russia continues to rebuff them all,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on social media.

He called for allies to step up sanctions on Russia, particularly targeting its energy sector, an important revenue stream for the Russian war chest.

“Our partners know how to apply pressure in a way that will force Russia to think about ending the war, not launching new strikes,” Mr Zelensky added.

The mayor of the western city of Lutsk, Mr Igor Polishchuk, said fires had broken out at an “enterprise”, and that no one had been reported killed or wounded.

The latest strike beats a previous Russian record of 550 drones and missiles set earlier in July . The attack also comes just days after Washington said it would send more weapons to Ukraine as Russia ramps up its attacks on the country.

“It is quite telling that Russia carried out this attack just as the United States publicly announced that it would supply us with weapons,” the Ukrainian President’s chief of staff, Mr Andriy Yermak, wrote on social media. AFP

Hear this story

WASHINGTON − Russian drone attacks on Ukraine have skyrocketed in recent weeks as the Pentagon continues to hold up deliveries of key air defense supplies, including Patriot interceptors.

Russian drone strikes have increased by roughly 500% in June and July, compared with earlier this year, according to the Institute for the Study of War.

“The Ukrainians are getting pounded at an unprecedented level of intensity,” said Fred Kagan, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. “They need air defense of all sorts urgently.”

Russia pummeled Ukraine overnight on July 3 with the largest drone and missile attack of the more-than-three-year conflict, with more than 530 drones and at least 10 missiles launched mostly at the capital, according to Ukraine’s air force. At least two people were killed and more than 90 injured across the country as attacks continued into July 7.

Over the past week, Russia launched around 1,270 drones and 39 missiles at Ukraine, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The escalation comes as the Pentagon has paused some weapons deliveries to Ukraine, including key air defense weapons like Patriots. Chief Pentagon Spokesperson Sean Parnell called it a “capability review … to ensure U.S. military aid aligns with our defense priorities.”

Democrats decry weapons cutoff

Democratic lawmakers said Ukraine’s air defenses were their largest worry.

Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said air defense is the “biggest concern … without question” after the Pentagon’s pause on weapons deliveries.

Smith said concerns that military aid to Ukraine and Israel is depleting the United States’ own stockpiles were not a “legitimate excuse.”

“Stockpiles that I’ve seen are no lower than they’ve been during the last three and a half years,” since Russia first invaded Ukraine, he said.

“I’m torn between whether or not it’s just really unintelligent analysis of what ournational security needs truly are,” or an “excuse to let Putin have his way in Ukraine,” Smith added.

Sens. Jack Reed and Chris Coons, two top Democrats on the Senate Armed Services Committee, called the aid pause the “latest and most dramatic blow to our support for Ukraine” in a July 3 joint statement.

“This assistance – including vital air defense interceptors and artillery munitions – was provided by Congress and designated to be delivered months ago,” they said, referring to military aid procured through contracts authorized by Congress that does not draw directly from U.S. stockpiles.

Kagan said concentrated Russian drone strikes “facilitate” ballistic missiles that penetrate Ukraine’s defenses. A lack of Patriot interceptors “leaves Ukraine open to the Russians just shooting their ballistic missiles whenever they want.” Patriots are Ukraine’s only air defense system that can down ballistic missiles, he added.

In recent days, both Zelenskyy and President Donald Trump have nodded to Ukraine’s need for air defense, but a deal has yet to come through.

“We had an extremely fruitful conversation with the President of the United States yesterday, during which we discussed air defense,” Zelenskyy said in a July 5 video statement.

Trump seemed in agreement, telling reporters aboard Air Force One the same day that Ukraine would need Patriots “for defense.”

“They’re going to need something because they’re being hit pretty hard,” he said. Trump said he was “very unhappy” with a call he held days earlier with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“He wants to go all the way, just keep killing people,” Trump said.

Trump briefly cut off all military aid to Ukraine in March after an Oval Office meeting with Zelenskyy devolved into a verbal fight.

RUSSIA could soon hammer Ukraine with 1,000 drones and missiles every day – as another deadly blitz landed overnight.

It was the second massive assault in the four days since Trump’s call with Putin, and represents a brazen defiance of the President’s peace agenda.

7 A fire rages following a strike on Odesa, where at least one person was killed Credit: East2West

7 A Russian Kamikaze drone hurtles down towards a built-up area Credit: East2West

7 Putin is cranking up the size of his assaults on Ukraine – in clear defiance against Trump’s continued peace efforts Credit: AFP

Moscow’s firepower capacity is constantly increasing and his forces have regularly broken the record for the largest daily volley of weapons in recent weeks.

On June 1, a 479-strong wave of drones and missiles became Russia’s largest unmanned aerial assault of the war.

June 9 saw that broken with 499, then again on June 29 with 537.

And finally, just last Friday, Putin terrorised Kyiv with a firestorm of 550 drones and missiles – just as he and Trump finished a phone call.

Russia’s defence industry is ballooning as projects come to fruition – such as an expanded missile plant in Votkinsk and rapidly expanding supply chains.

With an expanding arsenal, the size of Russia’s regular salvos look set only to increase – meaning they could soon nudge 1000 weapons per day.

It’s a bleak prospect for Ukraine, where each wave brings pain and death.

Dozens of kamikaze drones and missiles landed this morning, killing at least three people – two in the weary Sumy region and on in Odessa.

There were also dozens of casualties in Ukraine’s second city Kharkiv.

At least 27 were wounded, including children aged three, seven and 11, by the onslaught of Iranian-designed Shaded drones.

US President Donald Trump said Russia just wanted to -keep killing people- and hinted at sanctions after Moscow launched its largest ever drone and missile attack on Ukraine in the three-year-old war-

Two residential blocks were hit in Kharkiv, according to the regional administration, Oleh Syniehubov – with the top floors of one engulfed in flames.

Psychologists were dispatched to treat people traumatised by Putin’s latest strikes – which appeared to prioritise sowing terror among civilians

Kyiv was also hit, as was Dnipropetrovsk region, where the weapons injured two pensioners, a man aged 73 and a woman, 66.

In Donetsk, footage shows a Russian Gerber decoy drone was used as a strike weapon to slam into a residential building – triggering a giant explosion.

As Ukraine turned to Europe – especially Germany – for urgent new help with its air defences, Donald Trump insisted he has not abandoned Kyiv.

He said: “I am helping Ukraine. I help a lot.”

7 An explosion at a residential building from a Gerber decoy drone used as a strike weapon Credit: East2West

7

Trump also acknowledged the pounding that Ukraine is taking, despite his recent conversation with Putin.

The President said: “He [Zelensky] is being hit very hard – and I was very disappointed with my call with President Putin, I was very disappointed.”

Over the weekend, Trump said: “[Putin] wants to go all the way, just keep killing people, it’s no good.”

US special envoy Keith Kellogg will fly to Europe to meet Zelensky this week.

For its part, Ukraine hit warehouses at a chemical plant which produces ammunition and military-grade explosives for the Russian military machine.

Repeated explosions were heard at the Krasnozavodsk site, some 55 miles northeast of the Kremlin.

7 Trump said he was ‘very unhappy’ with Putin Credit: AFP

7 A fireman battles a blaze that has engulfed cars and buildings Credit: East2West

The attack was carried out by Ukraine’s new FP-1 one‑way kamikaze loitering strike drones, which support warheads of up to 120kg.

Footage shows strikes at the strategic plant – the latest of dozens of Russian military factories to be hit by Ukraine.

Ukraine is also believed to be behind major airport disruption in European Russia over the weekend and early today.

Hundreds of flights were delayed or cancelled amid concerns over drones.

Problems continued at Pulkovo airport in St Petersburg today, after major Moscow hub Sheremetyevo was badly hit on Sunday.