Maria Troyanivska had returned home early the night a Russian drone struck her bedroom.
“It flew in through the window, right into her room,” her mother Viktoria tells the BBC. After the explosion, Viktoria and her husband Volodymyr rushed from the next room to find their daughter’s room engulfed in flames.
“We tried to put it out, but everything was burning so strongly,” she says, tearfully. “It was impossible to breathe – we had to leave.”
The Russian Shahed drone killed their 14-year-old daughter in her bed, in their suburban Kyiv apartment, last month.
“She died immediately, then was burned,” her mother said. “We had to bury her in a closed coffin. She had no chance of surviving.”
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A Massive Surge in Drone Strikes
Russia has significantly increased its drone strikes on Ukraine, with more than 2,000 launched in October alone, according to Ukraine’s General Staff—a record high in this ongoing conflict.
The same report also revealed that Russia fired 1,410 drones in September, and 818 in August. This marks a sharp increase compared to the approximately 1,100 drones launched in the preceding three months.
This surge in drone attacks is part of a broader resurgence by Russian forces, who are making advances across the front lines. North Korean troops have joined the war on Moscow’s side, and with Donald Trump potentially securing a second term as U.S. president, Ukraine’s military, already exhausted and depleted, faces uncertain support from its biggest military donor.
Shahed Drones: The Weapon of Choice
The majority of the Russian drones pounding Ukraine are Shaheds, Iranian-designed, propeller-driven drones with a distinctive wing shape and a lethal warhead packed into their nose cones.
In addition to these drones, Russia has also begun launching decoy drones that carry no explosives. These fake drones are designed to confuse Ukraine’s air defense systems, forcing them to waste valuable ammunition on targets that do not pose a threat.
Compared to traditional missiles, drones are much cheaper to manufacture, easier to launch, and are strategically used to drain morale as much as they target infrastructure.
Nightly Strikes and Daily Destruction
Every night, Ukrainians go to bed with the constant threat of Russian drones. Notifications ping on their phones as incoming drones cross the skies, setting off sirens throughout the country.
And every morning, the nation wakes to reports of another devastating strike. Since the beginning of November, drones have struck major Ukrainian cities including Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odesa, Mykolaiv, and Zaporizhzhia.
On Sunday, Russia launched 145 drones at Ukraine, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky—a record number for a single day since the start of the full-scale invasion.
Ukrainian officials reported that on that day, air defenses successfully shot down 62 drones, and a further 67 drones were “lost”—either downed through electronic warfare or disappearing from radar screens.
Air Defenses Strained by the Rising Threat
Ukraine’s air defense systems are struggling to keep up with the increasing number of drone strikes. As Russian drone attacks intensify, Ukraine’s ability to protect its cities and infrastructure is being put to the test.
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