Four out of five successful Ukrainian strikes against Russia today come from their combat drones, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky. An increase of 10% compared to spring 2025, when 70% of Russian victims were affected by remotely piloted devices. The Ukrainian president is celebrating what he considers a victory for Ukrainian industry, ensuring that the majority of these drones are manufactured locally. The total number of drone strikes would amount to 820,000 Russian targets hit, again according to Ukrainian sources.
“Every strike is recorded, which not only facilitates the verification of impacts, but also the operation of the bonus system for the evaluation of military performance,” says Volodymyr Zelensky. A reward system is thus put in place: for each “kill”the drone pilot and his company receive points, which lead to rewards like new equipment.
In the war of attrition between kyiv and Moscow, success is not only measured in square kilometers taken from the enemy, but in sometimes morbid statistics. This electronic points system which “gamifies” the battles at the front transforms the resistance into a form of race for performance whose results, if kyiv is to be believed, are spectacular.
The total “dronization” of the battlefield
According to the Ukrainian leader, this data-based bonus method would have made it possible to liquidate 35,000 occupants for the month of December 2025 alone. A figure which, although difficult to verify independently, is corroborated by field reports from the various units.
Major Robert Brovdi, better known by his nom de guerre “Magyar”, a leading figure in the remotely piloted systems forces, brings surgical precision to this count: his units are said to be responsible for a third of the successful drone strikes across the entire front. In December, its teams reportedly neutralized around 388 Russian soldiers per day. A daily rhythm which results in a total of nearly 34,900 Russian losses over the month, a figure which aligns with presidential declarations.
The issue is no longer just tactical, it is industrial. Ukraine has fallen into a robotic war economy with dizzying ambitions, structured around three major points:
- Massive production: kyiv aimed to manufacture 2.5 million drones last year.
- Increasing maximum capacity: Some local estimates suggest the country could go up to 4.5 million units per year.
- Strategic independence: the objective is twofold, first to flood the front, then to radically emancipate itself from Chinese components in order to ultimately become a major exporter on the international market.
If the figures put forward by kyiv illustrate undeniable technological domination, uncertainty persists about real production in 2025, due to a lack of cross-referenced sources. Between announcements of theoretical capabilities and actual deliveries under enemy fire, the “fog of war” still prevents any more precise visibility.
