Ukraine says drones killed or wounded 302,000 Russian troops in 2026
Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence says Ukrainian forces have killed or wounded 302,000 Russian personnel with drones since the beginning of 2026. It says every strike was recorded in the DELTA combat system and verified by the Brave1 defence innovations cluster. The highest reported monthly result was in March.
Key points
- Ukraine reports 302,000 Russian personnel killed or wounded by drones since the start of 2026
- March recorded the highest monthly result: 33,989 Russian personnel
- From October 1 to 25, Ukrainian forces reported 27,829 drone-related Russian casualties
- Every reported strike was recorded in DELTA and verified by Brave1
- Ukraine’s procurement agency contracted for 300% more drones in 2026 than in 2025
- The General Staff reported 1,581,840 total Russian personnel losses as of October 27
- Robert Brovdi linked an early-October rise in Russian losses to mobilisation in Russia
Why it matters
The reported total illustrates the scale of Ukraine’s drone strikes against Russian personnel in 2026. The Defence Ministry says it verified each claimed strike through the DELTA system and Brave1 cluster, while the sharp increase in drone procurement indicates efforts to expand this capability further.
What happened
Ukraine’s Defence Ministry reported that Ukrainian forces killed or wounded 302,000 Russian personnel with drones from January through October 2026. Monthly figures were 29,572 in January, 26,204 in February, 33,989 in March, 33,961 in April, 30,548 in May, 27,072 in June, 30,272 in July, 29,554 in August and 32,739 in September. From October 1 to 25, the reported total reached 27,829. March was the highest of the listed months. The ministry said every strike was recorded on video in the DELTA combat system and verified by the Brave1 defence innovations cluster. The Defence Procurement Agency also contracted for 300% more unmanned aircraft in 2026 than throughout the previous year.
How Ukrainian sources describe it
Ukrainian reporting focused on the Defence Ministry’s drone-strike results, the system used to verify them, monthly casualty figures and the expansion of unmanned-aircraft procurement.
Background
The reported monthly figures cover January through September and October 1–25, 2026. Separately, the General Staff said Russia had lost 1,581,840 personnel in Ukraine since February 24, 2022, as of the morning of October 27. On October 22, it reported 2,250 Russian personnel losses in one day, a record since the beginning of the full-scale war.