Russia doubles use of loitering munitions and strike drones in southern Ukraine – military spox

Russian forces have doubled their use of loitering munitions and fixed-wing attack drones in southern Ukraine over the past five days.

This was stated in a comment to Ukrinform by Vladyslav Voloshyn, Spokesperson for the Defense Forces of the South.

“Recently, the enemy has been actively using loitering munitions and fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles like Molniya and Lancet,” Voloshyn said.

According to him, the enemy now uses more than 500 loitering munitions daily against the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and frontline settlements, whereas previously their number ranged between 200–250 per day.

They are used most actively in the Prydniprovske sector, where about 150 such drones are recorded daily.

“We shoot down at least two out of three, and sometimes even more,” the spokesperson said.

Voloshyn noted that Russian forces are also actively using reconnaissance drones – about 400–450 such UAVs have been recorded over the past few days. Despite the work of air defense systems, some continue flying due to their longer operational range.

“The enemy also continues shelling populated areas. In recent days, shelling has intensified both in settlements on the right bank of the Kherson region and in the Zaporizhzhia region along the line of contact. We record at least 40–45 shelling incidents every day,” he said.

Voloshyn added that from March 8 to March 12, Russian forces launched 226 strikes with Shahed drones and carried out 80 air strikes using 383 guided aerial bombs and nearly 130 unguided aerial rockets.

“Over five days, the enemy lost 1,243 personnel and 587 pieces of weapons and military equipment in the south. During this time, 126 enemy attacks took place on the southern axis,” Voloshyn said.

As reported earlier by Ukrinform, Russian units have been suffering losses in the Oleksandrivka sector due to unstable communications.