russia launched around 55,000 one-way attack unmanned aerial systems (OWA UAS) against targets in Ukraine in 2025, an approximate five-fold increase on the number launched in 2024, demonstrating the increasing scale of russia’s UAS capabilities and production, according to UK Defense Intelligence.
In December 2025, russia launched approximately 5,100 OWA UAS against Ukrainian targets. This was a moderate decrease from the approximately 5,400 OWA UAS that russia launched in November 2025, almost certainly due to poor weather conditions.
During December 2025, russia also launched approximately 90 of its premier deep strike missiles, similar to November 2025. The use of OWA UAS complicates the air picture for Ukraine’s air defense and increases the survivability of russian premier missiles.
Russia’s air strike campaign is focused against Ukraine’s energy critical national infrastructure, significantly increasing hardship for Ukraine’s civilian population over the winter months.
In response to the impact of these strikes, on January 14, 2026, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy declared a nationwide energy state of emergency.
As Defense Express previously reported, russia likely sustained approximately 415,000 casualties (killed and wounded) in the russia-Ukraine war in 2025, the second highest yearly total since launching the illegal, full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
