Ukraine plans to produce 30 thousand long-range drones in 2025

19 November, 2024 Liutyi UAV before launch. Source: CNN. Next year, Ukraine plans to produce at least 30,000 long-range drones.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi announced this in his speech to the Verkhovna Rada on Tuesday, November 19. Domestic strike drones are already capable of covering more than a thousand kilometers to hit important military and economic targets of the Russian aggressor state. Therefore, an increase in the production of such drones will enable the Ukrainian Defense Forces to strike even more intensively at the occupiers' territory.

This will force the Russians to spend resources to protect their critical facilities in the deep rear. For example, on the night of Wednesday, November 13, drones hit the Rosrezerv oil storage facility in the Penza region of Russia. Locals wrote on social media that the strike damaged one of the tanks. This was also confirmed by footage taken at the scene.

Also, on the night of November 9, 2024, Ukrainian drones attacked a gunpowder production facility, the Aleksinsky Chemical Plant, in the Tula region. Information about the drone attack on the region was also confirmed by local Russian authorities.

In early November, Volodymyr Zelenskyi shared that the government plans to sign three- and five-year contracts with Ukrainian manufacturers to supply strategic-level drones to the Defense Forces.

Ukrainian Liutyi drone before launch. Photo credits: Come Back Alive Foundation

At the end of October, the Ministry of Defense reported that over 10 months, the agency, together with the Ministry of Digital Transformation, had contracted 1.6 million UAVs of various types for a total of over UAH 114 billion. These include long-range, FPV kamikaze, reconnaissance, and mono-wing drones, as well as attack copters and aircraft.

At the same time, the Ministry of Defense has already contracted 155,205 units of unmanned aerial vehicles worth UAH 32.33 billion for 2025.

In addition to the Ministry of Defense, other components of the Defense Forces - the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the National Police, the National Guard, and the Security Service - also conclude separate contracts of this nature.

UAVs are also purchased directly by military units and volunteer organizations.