- Russian forces have used Iranian-made suicide drones to strike cities across Ukraine.
- There have been several attacks in cities far from the battlefield, the most recent in Kyiv on Monday.
Russian forces have ramped up deadly attacks on Ukrainian cities in recent weeks, striking hundreds of miles from the front lines, and an emerging weapon of choice as Russia runs low on other long-range weapons is an Iranian-made suicide drone.
Several people were killed in a bombardment of Kyiv on Monday, Ukrainian officials said. The explosive suicide drones used in the attack, the latest in a series of recent attacks on civilian areas, could be seen in photos and videos flying around as police officers desperately tried to shoot them down before they reached their targets and detonated.
Ukraine's defense ministry identified the drones that Russia used against the Ukrainian capital as the Iranian-made Shahed-136, a weapon which Russia calls the Geran-2. Russian forces have been using these suicide drones for over a month, and the frequency of use appears to be on the rise.
What is the Shahed-136?
Though it is referred to as a drone, the Shahed-136 is a loitering munition, which makes it different from both more traditional unmanned aerial vehicles and cruise missiles.
This weapon has an operational range of around 1,250 miles and can fly around like a normal drone, even lingering or loitering over a target area. Packed with explosives, these small systems can be directed at targets in an area once on site and then detonate upon impact like a missile. For this reason, people refer to these systems as suicide or kamikaze drones.
Marina Miron, who is an honorary research fellow at King's College London's Centre for Military Ethics, told Insider in a recent interview that the drones are cheap, simple technology that can be used to hit targets far from the battlefield like command centers, ammunition depots, or even civilian areas.
According to an intelligence update from Britain's defense ministry, the 440-pound Shahed-136 drones are slow and carry a small explosive payload. In significant numbers though, especially when launched in swarms, they can cause a lot of damage. It's not immediately clear how many drones Russian forces have in their arsenal.
The devastating war in Ukraine is also not the first instance where Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones have been used. Other places where the system has seen action include Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen.
What makes the Shahed-136 different from other weapons?
Beyond the Shahed-136, Russian forces have also used Iranian-made Shahed-129, Shahed-191, and Qods Mohajer-6 drones on the battlefield in Ukraine.
The Shahed-129 and Qods Mohajer-6 are both bigger systems than the delta-shaped Shahed-136 and can carry guided missiles. Unlike the Shahed-136, the other three drones are unmanned combat aerial vehicles and can be used for intelligence gathering or reconnaissance.
The Shahed-136 drones are also quite different from the missiles used by Russian forces throughout the war. Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov shared a graphic to social media last week highlighting different types of precision weaponry Russia has been using. The missiles included the air-launched Kh-101 or Kh-555 cruise missiles, sea-launched Kalibr missiles, and ground-launched Iskander missiles.
In contrast with missiles, which tend to be more powerful and expensive, the Shahed-136 suicide drones can hang around an area before diving on its target and detonating, though it is possible to use them like cheap missiles.
As Russian forces continue to exhaust their increasingly limited supply of long-range precision munitions in recent weeks, Russia is turning more and more to these drones, but military experts say Moscow's terror campaign is unlikely to do much to advance Russian's President Vladimir Putin's war aims in the long run.