Both figures are government claims as of 18 October that cannot be verified independently. They count shootdowns, not launches, and neither government publishes totals of its own launches. Ukraine's defence ministry said on 23 September that its forces had neutralized more than 350,000 Russian drones of all types since the start of 2026.
Russia's defence ministry put its cumulative count at 263,889 on 17 October and 265,145 on 18 October, a rise of 1,256 in a day.
That matches the 1,256 fixed-wing drones the ministry said it downed in the previous 24 hours, along with seven Flamingo missiles. A day earlier, it had claimed 654.
Ukraine's General Staff said in its 19 October report that Russia had lost 569,994 operational-tactical-level drones since 24 February 2022, up 1,636 from the previous day.
That is more than twice Russia's claimed total, though the two sides do not count the same categories. The General Staff's tally stood at 559,873 on 12 October, up about 1,450 since then.
Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Thursday that 630 drones flew toward the Moscow region between 8:30 pm on Wednesday and 4 am, most of them destroyed, and that two people were wounded. On 6 October, he said 650 drones flew toward the region.
The claimed Russian total has grown steeply this year. Russia's defence ministry said it had destroyed 150,139 Ukrainian drones by 21 May, more than 196,000 by 3 August and 260,703 by 13 October. Those figures imply about 770 a day since 21 May and about 890 a day since 13 October.
Drones dominate the ministry's list of what it claims to have destroyed.
As of 18 October, it also claimed 674 aircraft, 284 helicopters, 672 anti-aircraft missile systems, 31,279 tanks and other armoured combat vehicles, 1,792 multiple rocket launchers, 36,750 field artillery pieces and mortars, and 74,862 special military vehicles. Ukraine's General Staff lists 449 Russian aircraft and 356 helicopters destroyed, and 12,416 tanks.
Moscow has faced ever larger raids. Sobyanin said 194 drones were downed on approach to the city on 18 June, during Ukraine's biggest attack in years on the capital, and 450 on 20 September, which was described as the largest attack on Moscow to date.
Ukraine's army chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi, gave the official Ukrainian count of Russian launches in January, saying "the number of missiles used by the Russian army has reached over 13,300 units," and "strike drones – over 142,300 units," since 24 February 2022. He gave no methodology.
Think tanks give lower totals.
Data from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) show Russia fired 138,686 drones, 5,797 cruise missiles and 1,225 ballistic missiles at Ukraine between September 2022 and September 2026, according to analysis by Belfer Center researcher Max Nonnenmacher, published on 14 October by Russia Matters, a Harvard Kennedy School Belfer Center project.
Ukraine intercepted 110,195 of the drones, or about 79.5 percent. In September alone, Russia fired 8,014 drones, and Ukraine intercepted 6,859, or "85.59% of Russian drones," Russia Matters said. The page does not say whether it counts decoys.
A separate monthly analysis by Igor Anokhin for the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), based on Ukrainian Air Force statements, counted 54,538 Shahed-type drones launched in 2025 and 53,335 in the first nine months of 2026.
May's 8,161 was the record month. Its term can include "genuine Shahed/Geran strike UAVs together with Gerbera, Parody-type decoys." Because the Air Force "no longer publishes a complete 24-hour count for every day," the report reconstructs some estimates. Its September figure of 6,732 is "not necessarily a complete 24-hour monthly total," and is below CSIS's 8,014 for the same month.
Ukraine's deep-strike campaign has increasingly hit energy sites, including one raid that set a Saint Petersburg refinery ablaze on 18 October. Kyiv's 350,000 figure includes about 220,000 fixed-wing, 100,000 multirotor, and 31,000 Shahed-type drones, so it is not comparable to the long-range totals above.
Russia first accused Ukraine of striking the Moscow area on 3 May 2023, saying it had downed two drones over the Kremlin; Kyiv denied involvement. On 30 May, authorities said Moscow was attacked by drones a second time.
On 30 July 2023, Russia said it downed three drones over the capital, damaging two office towers in Moscow City and briefly closing an airport.
On 10 November 2024, Russia's defence ministry said it downed 34 drones targeting Moscow, the biggest Ukrainian attack on the capital since the war began.
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