Ukraine says more than 80% of enemy targets now destroyed by drones

PARIS — Ukraine says drones now account for more than 80% of enemy targets destroyed as the country’s fight against Russia’s invasion approaches the five-year mark, with most of the drones manufactured locally.

Ukrainian forces recorded 819,737 video-confirmed drone hits in 2025, the Ministry of Defence said on Monday , at an event to award the most effective drone units. Almost a third of the drone strikes targeted enemy personnel, according to data tied to the armed forces’ internal bonus system that awards points for confirmed hits.

“We clearly record every single hit,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said at the event, in comments in Ukrainian translated by the president’s office. “We also have points awarded for every hit. Our bonus-based electronic points system is working to scale up the results our defense.”

Drones have become a defining feature of the war in Ukraine, with both sides scaling up production to millions of units per year and coming up with new ways to use them, leaving armed forces across Europe scrambling to learn the lessons. One Ukrainian innovation has been a system to verify drone strikes that awards points to successful operators, with an online marketplace where units can then spend points buy equipment, in what has been described as gamifying warfare .

Nearly 240,000 of the drone strikes targeted enemy personnel, in addition to 62,000 hits against light vehicles, 29,000 against heavy vehicles and 32,000 strikes against unmanned aerial vehicles for strike and reconnaissance, the MoD said.

Recording each strike allows for verification and assessing military performance, and units can spend their electronic points on drones, electronic warfare systems and other equipment on the Brave1 marketplace, according to the ministry.

Ukraine plans to expand the Army of Drones system to other areas, including giving points for the performance of air defense and army aviation against drones, as well as for snipers, according to the country’s new Minister of Defence Mykhailo Fedorov.

“For the first time, we have received real, verified battlefield data that can be used to support data-driven management decisions,” Fedorov said. “We will continue to develop the program.”

One goal is to increase depth of engagement to disrupt enemy logistics and neutralize enemy UAV crews, and the incentives program will introduce point-allocation coefficients depending on the range of engagement, according to the minister.

Germany’s Quantum Systems said its fixed-wing Vector drone was awarded third place for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems at the Army of Drones award. The Vector has been part of the Brave1 marketplace since August, and front-line units procure the drone directly from the company’s production facilities in Ukraine, Quantum Systems said.

Some Western think tanks have cautioned drones don’t replace human capacity, with Ukraine still needing infantry, armor and cannons.

The front line around the Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk and elsewhere has show drones can’t replace a soldier holding ground, retired Australian Army Maj. Gen. Mick Ryan at the Center for Strategic and International Studies wrote in a November report . He said drones haven’t replaced artillery, tanks or infantry in Ukraine, but have complemented them.

Drones alone are not enough, and they’re most effective when used in combination with artillery, the Royal United Services Institute wrote in a February 2025 report , citing discussions with multiple Ukrainian officers.

“Today, artillery matters, but in a different way,” Zelenskyy said. “War itself is undergoing an evolution, and everything is becoming extremely dependent on another important element as well: on who is the fastest and the strongest in applying technologies, in adapting technologies, and in truthful verification of what is happening on the battlefield.”

Rudy Ruitenberg is a Europe correspondent for Defense News. He started his career at Bloomberg News and has experience reporting on technology, commodity markets and politics.

巴黎——乌克兰表示，随着该国对抗俄罗斯入侵的战争接近五年，无人机目前在摧毁的敌方目标中占比超过 80%，其中大部分无人机是本地制造的。

乌克兰国防部周一在表彰最有效无人机部队的活动上表示，截至2025年，乌克兰军队已记录到819,737次经视频确认的无人机命中目标。根据与乌克兰武装部队内部奖励系统相关的数据（该系统根据确认命中次数给予积分），近三分之一的无人机袭击目标是敌方人员。

“我们清楚地记录了每一次命中，”弗拉基米尔·泽连斯基总统在活动上用乌克兰语发表讲话，总统办公室将其翻译成乌克兰语。“我们还为每一次命中给予积分。我们基于奖励的电子积分系统正在努力提升我们的防御成果。”

无人机已成为乌克兰战争的一个显著特征，交战双方都将无人机的年产量提升至数百万架，并不断探索新的使用方式，令欧洲各国军队争相学习借鉴。乌克兰的一项创新是建立了一套无人机打击验证系统，该系统会奖励成功执行任务的操作人员积分，并设有一个在线市场，部队可以用积分购买装备，这种做法被形容为“游戏化战争”。

国防部表示，近 24 万次无人机袭击的目标是敌方人员，此外还有 6.2 万次袭击针对轻型车辆，2.9 万次袭击针对重型车辆，以及 3.2 万次袭击针对用于打击和侦察的无人机。

据国防部称，记录每一次打击行动可以验证和评估军事表现，部队还可以使用电子点数在 Brave1 市场上购买无人机、电子战系统和其他装备。

据乌克兰新任国防部长米哈伊洛·费多罗夫称，乌克兰计划将“无人机军队”系统扩展到其他领域，包括对防空部队、陆军航空兵对抗无人机的表现以及狙击手的表现给予加分。

费多罗夫表示：“我们首次获得了真实可靠的战场数据，这些数据可用于支持数据驱动的管理决策。我们将继续推进该项目。”

部长表示，其中一个目标是加深交战深度，以扰乱敌方后勤并消灭敌方无人机机组人员，激励计划将根据交战范围引入积分分配系数。

德国量子系统公司宣布，其固定翼无人机“矢量”（Vector）在“无人机陆军奖”的情报、监视和侦察系统类别中荣获第三名。该公司表示，“矢量”无人机自8月起已在Brave1市场销售，一线部队直接从该公司位于乌克兰的生产基地采购。

一些西方智库警告说，无人机不能取代人力，乌克兰仍然需要步兵、装甲车和大炮。

退役澳大利亚陆军少将、战略与国际研究中心（CSIS）的米克·瑞安在11月的一份报告中写道，乌克兰波克罗夫斯克市及其他地区的战线表明，无人机无法取代士兵坚守阵地。他表示，在乌克兰，无人机并没有取代火炮、坦克或步兵，而是起到了补充作用。

英国皇家联合军种研究所 (RUSI) 在 2025 年 2 月的一份报告中写道，仅靠无人机是不够的，与火炮结合使用效果最佳。该报告援引了与多位乌克兰军官的讨论。

泽连斯基说：“如今，火炮依然重要，但重要性有所不同。战争本身正在经历演变，一切都变得极其依赖于另一个重要因素：谁能最快、最有力地应用技术、调整技术，以及真实地核实战场上发生的一切。”

鲁迪·鲁伊滕贝格是《防务新闻》的欧洲记者。他的职业生涯始于彭博新闻社，拥有报道科技、大宗商品市场和政治方面的经验。