Russia’s jet-powered drones overwhelm Ukraine, killing dozens

As Ukrainian civilians suffer from air attacks, Russian ground forces struggle to advance.

A resident, Nataliia, and her daughter Elia, 6, sit at a site of an apartment building damaged by a Russian missile strike in the town of Boryspil, Ukraine, on September 1, 2026 [Reuters]

As the war drags on in Ukraine, its civilians suffer the most.

Thirty-eight people were killed in the village of Myla on August 29, when a Russian drone attack struck an ammunition depot. Another 12 were killed in attacks across the country on September 1.

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Civilian deaths have sharply increased this summer as Russia is using jet-powered drones, which fly at about half the speed of a passenger jet and are more difficult to intercept than propeller-powered drones.

Jet-powered drones numbered about 2,800 in August, said Ukraine Air Force spokesman Yurii Ihnat, compared with about 1,500 in July, several times the number launched in June. Ukraine has an interception rate of more than 90 percent against propeller-powered drones, but only 60 percent against the jet-powered variant, Ihnat said.

Meanwhile, Russian forces suffered 42,020 casualties last month, Ukraine claimed, as Moscow’s territorial gains dropped to a fraction of last year’s rate of advance.

General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine figures showed Russia’s monthly casualties were only slightly below July’s 42,860, and well above June’s 39,290.

Al Jazeera cannot independently verify casualty estimates by either side, but if accurate, these summer figures – 25.8 percent higher than the casualties Ukraine inflicted in the spring – suggest the high Russian casualty rate is not a passing event.

Russian recruitment rates are thought to be well below these figures, estimated by Ukraine at about 32,500 a month this year.

People visit a McDonald’s restaurant, the first to open in Ukraine in 1997, located in an area hit by numerous missile attacks in Kyiv, Ukraine, on September 1, 2026 [Gleb Garanich/Reuters]

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has publicly shared intelligence suggesting Russian leader Vladimir Putin will conscript 300,000 or more troops this October.

Zelenskyy has said up to 80 percent of Russian casualties were inflicted in Kostiantynivka, the southernmost of Ukraine’s “fortress belt” of cities in the eastern Donetsk region, whose capture Putin has repeatedly prioritised.

Russian forces are thought to control only a portion of the city, but have infiltrated more than 70 percent of it with scattered individual troops sent to drop supplies and await reinforcements. Ukrainian drone operators have been targeting them steadily as Russia replenishes them, keeping Kostiantynivka a grey area for months.

This week it was revealed that Ukrainian commander-in-chief Mykhailo Drapatyi reinforced the Donetsk front around Sloviansk and Dobropillia, north and south of Kostiantynivka, respectively, but kept the Kostiantynivka front largely unchanged, suggesting Ukraine may be adopting the tactic of fighting a prolonged rearguard in this urban landscape to inflict attritional losses, as it did in the battles of Bakhmut, Pokrovsk and Chasiv Yar.

Police officers inspect parts of a Russian drone at the site of an apartment building in Kyiv, Ukraine, on September 1, 2026 [Gleb Garanich/Reuters]

The fight for Kostiantynivka has sapped troop strength elsewhere on the front line, where Ukraine has liberated 130sq km (50 square miles) of its land in August, limiting Russia’s overall advance.

Russia seized just over 90 square kilometres (35 square miles) in August, the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank that assesses territorial gains using open-source geolocated sources, estimated.

While still a net gain, this is less than a fifth of the land Russia seized in August 2025.

During June, July and August this year, the ISW assessed that Russia gained firm control of 160sq km (60 square miles), compared with 1,440 in the summer months of 2025 (560 square miles) – a 90 percent drop in performance.

Family members attend the funeral of local village leader Taras Didych, who was among 38 people killed in a Russian drone strike in the village of Myla on August 28, in Dmytrivka, Kyiv region, Ukraine, on August 31, 2026 [Alina Smutko/Reuters]

Ukraine has turned its focus from Russian refineries to strikes against Russian air defences, radar systems and drone launch sites.

Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces (SBS) destroyed 33 air defence elements in August, bringing the annual total to 263.

Ukraine also kept up some strikes on refineries, hitting 12 in August, along with two gas-processing plants and three oil transshipment terminals, according to its defence ministry.

During the past week, it struck the Yanos refinery in Yaroslavl, and the Kirishi and Ust-Luga refineries near Leningrad, all 800km (500 miles) from its border.

Petro Ionov reacts near a grave of his son Yevhenii Ionov after a burial ceremony in the town of Bilohorodka, in Kyiv region, Ukraine, on August 25, 2026 [Anatolii Stepanov/Reuters]

These strikes have caused petrol shortages, further hurting Russia’s economy.

Ukraine’s military intelligence reported that certain Russian exports had fallen by 80 percent compared with pre-war levels. Oil has been among the hardest hit, as Ukraine has struck terminals and hundreds of tankers carrying Russian oil in the Black and Azov seas.

Russian oil exports from the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk fell from 800,000 barrels a day in July to 350,000 barrels a day in August, said Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service.

“The Russian side acknowledges that its Black Sea Fleet ships are effectively blockaded in Novorossiysk due to our drone strikes and are unable to operate at sea,” said Zelenskyy.

“Since the Russian fleet is unable to provide escorts for the commercial and shadow fleet … one of the solutions being considered is to equip civilian ships with small arms, electronic warfare (EW) equipment, and military personnel,” he said. “We will prepare appropriate countermeasures.”

The strikes on the oil industry have not only reduced exports. They have reverberated across the Russian economy, creating queues at petrol stations and raising prices for consumers.

This week Russia extended a ban on diesel exports to the end of September, in order to keep its army and transport industry supplied, and sought to import petrol.

Occupied Crimea, where petrol distribution has been restricted to state vehicles, has been hard hit.

The Russian-appointed governor of the region, Sergei Aksyonov, said on September 2: “Fuel supplies to the region are currently not fully meeting the needs of the residents. Unfortunately, some residents of Crimea will, at this stage, face limited access to gasoline.”

在乌克兰平民遭受空袭之际，俄罗斯地面部队推进举步维艰。

2026年9月1日，乌克兰鲍里斯波尔镇，居民娜塔莉娅和她6岁的女儿伊莉娅坐在被俄罗斯导弹袭击损毁的公寓楼遗址上。[路透社]

随着乌克兰战争的持续，平民百姓遭受的苦难最为深重。

8月29日，俄罗斯无人机袭击米拉村的一个弹药库，造成38人死亡。9月1日，俄罗斯全国各地发生多起袭击事件，另有12人丧生。

前往俄罗斯和乌克兰重启调解的四位美国特使之一

列表 2/4：乌克兰战术转变，将战火引向俄罗斯太空计划

基辅枪战中涉及的乌克兰情报机构有 4 个，请列出其中 3 个：发生了什么以及为什么？

乌克兰10人受伤，基辅方面预计将在未来几天与美国特使举行会谈（名单4/4）

今年夏天，由于俄罗斯使用喷气式无人机，平民死亡人数急剧增加。喷气式无人机的飞行速度约为客机的一半，而且比螺旋桨式无人机更难拦截。

乌克兰空军发言人尤里·伊格纳特表示，8月份乌克兰的喷气式无人机数量约为2800架，而7月份约为1500架，是6月份出动数量的数倍。伊格纳特还表示，乌克兰对螺旋桨式无人机的拦截率超过90%，但对喷气式无人机的拦截率仅为60%。

与此同时，乌克兰方面声称，俄军上个月伤亡人数为 42020 人，莫斯科的领土扩张速度已降至去年同期的几分之一。

乌克兰武装部队总参谋部的数据显示，俄罗斯当月的伤亡人数仅略低于7月份的42860人，远高于6月份的39290人。

半岛电视台无法独立核实双方的伤亡估计，但如果准确的话，这些夏季的数字——比乌克兰在春季造成的伤亡高出 25.8%——表明俄罗斯的高伤亡率并非一时之举。

据信俄罗斯的征兵率远低于这些数字，乌克兰估计今年每月约为 32,500 人。

2026年9月1日，人们来到乌克兰基辅一家麦当劳餐厅用餐，这是1997年在乌克兰开设的第一家麦当劳餐厅，位于一个曾多次遭受导弹袭击的地区。[Gleb Garanich/路透社]

乌克兰总统泽连斯基公开分享了情报，表明俄罗斯领导人普京将于今年10月征召30万或更多士兵。

泽连斯基表示，高达 80% 的俄军伤亡发生在科斯蒂安蒂尼夫卡，这是乌克兰东部顿涅茨克地区“堡垒带”城市群中最南端的一个城市，普京曾多次将该城的攻占列为优先事项。

据信，俄军仅控制了该市的一部分，但已渗透到超过70%的区域，零散的部队被派往空投补给并等待增援。乌克兰无人机操作员一直在持续打击这些部队，而俄罗斯则不断补充兵力，使得科斯蒂安蒂尼夫卡数月来一直处于灰色地带。

本周有消息透露，乌克兰总司令米哈伊洛·德拉帕蒂加强了顿涅茨克前线在斯拉维扬斯克和多布罗皮利亚附近的兵力，分别位于科斯蒂安蒂尼夫卡的北部和南部，但科斯蒂安蒂尼夫卡前线基本保持不变，这表明乌克兰可能正在采取在城市环境中进行持久后卫战以造成消耗战的战术，就像在巴赫穆特战役、波克罗夫斯克战役和恰西夫亚尔战役中所做的那样。

2026年9月1日，乌克兰基辅，警察在一栋公寓楼现场检查俄罗斯无人机的部件。[格列布·加拉尼奇/路透社]

科斯蒂安蒂尼夫卡之战消耗了前线其他地方的兵力，乌克兰在 8 月份解放了 130 平方公里（50 平方英里）的领土，限制了俄罗斯的整体推进。

据总部位于华盛顿的智库“战争研究所”（该研究所利用开源地理定位信息评估领土扩张）估计，俄罗斯在8月份占领了略超过90平方公里（35平方英里）的土地。

虽然仍有净收益，但这还不到俄罗斯在 2025 年 8 月占领的土地的五分之一。

今年 6 月、7 月和 8 月，ISW 评估认为，俄罗斯牢牢控制了 160 平方公里（60 平方英里）的领土，而 2025 年夏季几个月，俄罗斯的控制面积将达到 1440 平方公里（560 平方英里）——战绩下降了 90%。

2026年8月31日，在乌克兰基辅州德米特里夫卡，当地村长塔拉斯·迪迪奇的家人参加了他的葬礼。塔拉斯·迪迪奇是8月28日俄罗斯无人机袭击米拉村的38名遇难者之一。[Alina Smutko/路透社]

乌克兰已将打击目标从俄罗斯炼油厂转向打击俄罗斯防空系统、雷达系统和无人机发射场。

乌克兰无人系统部队（SBS）8 月份摧毁了 33 个防空设施，使年度总数达到 263 个。

据乌克兰国防部称，乌克兰还继续对炼油厂进行袭击，8 月份袭击了 12 家炼油厂，以及两座天然气加工厂和三个石油转运码头。

过去一周，地震袭击了雅罗斯拉夫尔的亚诺斯炼油厂，以及列宁格勒附近的基里希炼油厂和乌斯季卢加炼油厂，这些炼油厂距离其边境 800 公里（500 英里）。

2026年8月25日，在乌克兰基辅州比洛霍罗德卡镇，彼得罗·伊奥诺夫在儿子叶夫根尼·伊奥诺夫的墓前举行葬礼后悲痛不已。[Anatolii Stepanov/路透社]

这些罢工导致汽油短缺，进一步损害了俄罗斯经济。

乌克兰军事情报部门报告称，俄罗斯某些出口商品与战前水平相比下降了80%。石油受到的冲击最为严重，乌克兰袭击了黑海和亚速海的石油码头以及数百艘运载俄罗斯石油的油轮。

乌克兰对外情报局表示，俄罗斯从黑海港口新罗西斯克出口的石油量从7月份的每天80万桶下降到8月份的每天35万桶。

泽连斯基说：“俄方承认，由于我方无人机袭击，其黑海舰队舰艇实际上被封锁在新罗西斯克，无法在海上执行任务。”

“由于俄罗斯舰队无法为商船和影子舰队提供护航……正在考虑的解决方案之一是为民用船只配备小型武器、电子战设备和军事人员，”他说道。“我们将制定相应的应对措施。”

石油行业的罢工不仅减少了出口，还对俄罗斯经济产生了连锁反应，导致加油站排起长队，并推高了消费者的物价。

本周，俄罗斯将柴油出口禁令延长至9月底，以保障其军队和运输行业的燃料供应，并寻求进口汽油。

被占领的克里米亚地区，汽油供应仅限于国家车辆，遭受了严重打击。

9月2日，俄罗斯任命的克里米亚地区州长谢尔盖·阿克肖诺夫表示：“目前该地区的燃料供应无法完全满足居民的需求。不幸的是，现阶段克里米亚部分居民将面临汽油供应受限的问题。”