Russia used about 500 drones to attack Ukraine in September – Air Force spox

"Drones are used to attack not only critical infrastructure facilities but also military facilities they want to hit. You saw that they also try to hit airfields. Why are fewer [drones] used? Well, there were 500 in September. Therefore, perhaps, the enemy does not have such capabilities to build up a large number now, and it is possible that they try to launch them in October in a dosed manner in different directions and from different directions – from the north, from the southeast and from the south, and maybe they want to restore the stock that was used in September," Yuriy Ihnat, the Spokesperson for the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said during the United News nationwide telethon.

He noted that the enemy launched Shahed drones practically every day, and the defense forces continued to destroy them.

Ihnat also emphasized that Ukraine expected not only medium- and short-range anti-aircraft systems, but also other systems that can quantitatively strengthen Ukraine's capabilities.

Answering questions about Russia's increase in production and modernization of Shahed drones, Ihnat said: "As I said, they used more than 500 units in September, so it [stock] should be restored, maybe those factories are not yet working at the capacity they want to reach or Iran may not be providing the numbers they would like to continue these attacks. Believe me, if they had enough of them, they would all be launched here because these weapons exhaust our air defense, these weapons sometimes hit the targets, so they would use them. They may now be taking a break to amass the numbers they need to attack our infrastructure. As for modernization, it will happen, the weaknesses and strengths of each type of weapon are studied in real combat. And with Shahed drones, they definitely started to make some improvements."

According to Ihnat, the enemy has made Shahed drones less loud and less visible.