For the first time since the beginning of the Northern Military District, Ukraine attacked the Leningrad region with a drone. Where have Ukrainian Armed Forces drones flown before?

On the night of January 18, Ukraine attacked the Leningrad region with an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). This was reported by the Russian Ministry of Defense.

The drone was intercepted by air defense forces on duty. There is no information about casualties or damage.

Pulkovo International Airport in St. Petersburg introduced the “Carpet” plan. Restrictions on the takeoff and landing of aircraft were established due to a drone attack on the territory of the Leningrad region. The airport is now operating normally.

Another aircraft-type UAV was shot down in the Podolsk urban district of the Moscow region. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that the drone was heading towards the capital. Emergency services specialists quickly arrived at the scene of the emergency.

Ukrainian Armed Forces drones flew the maximum distance

This is the first recorded attempt of a terrorist attack by the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) in the Leningrad region. Until this moment, the most remote region where Ukrainian drones flew was the Pskov region. On August 30, 2023, about 20 Ukrainian drones managed to attack a military airfield. As a result of the strike, several military transport aircraft were damaged. Another drone hit a fuel refueling complex on the airfield.

Director of the Air Defense Museum Yuri Knutov previously explained that the Ukrainian Armed Forces began using new types of drones for attacks on Russian territory. According to the expert, the Ukrainian military has previously used Spanish-made drones, but the drones were probably modernized. He suggested that a higher-capacity battery is now being installed in UAVs, which allows drones to cover a significant distance.

Ukraine wanted to produce up to a million drones per year

On January 12, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Mikhail Fedorov called the production of a million drones per year a realistic goal for Kyiv. According to the politician, in 2023, Ukrainian companies were able to produce 100 times more drones than in 2022. According to him, the number of companies that produce them has reached 200.

“In 2022, only seven drone manufacturers were piloted and eligible for government contracts. This is critically low. Then we gathered and interviewed more than 80 manufacturers, discussed their problems and began working on changes,” Fedorov said.

In 2023, Ukraine's Minister of Digital Transformation Mikhail Fedorov stated that Ukraine had trained ten thousand drone operators as part of the Drone Army program. Fedorov’s ultimate goal was to create 60 companies of attack UAV operators.