Russia KO’s Ukraine Air Defenses After Putin’s Helicopter Targeted
After Ukraine reportedly targeted Russia President Putin’s helicopter with a drone swarm, Russia pummeled Ukraine key logistic and population centers with a spectacular barrage of 298 drones and 9 Iskander ballistic missiles that penetrated local Ukrainian air defenses and American supplied Patriot air defense systems.
A Russian air defense commander Yury Dashkin claimed that as President Putin's helicopter on May 20th was flying to a nuclear power plant in the recently liberated Kursk Region, it became “at the epicenter” of a swarm of at least 46 a Ukrainian drones.
Putin was not injured, but retaliated with a spectacular barrage. As the chart through mid-May reveals below, Russia has gone from using a couple of hundred drones a month in 2023, and was on track to use about 2,800 in May 2025.
Ukraine’s capitol city of Kyiv is protected by two American Patriot Anti-Missile batteries, which supposedly is invincible to missile attack. But the Washington Post reported that all nine Iskanders hit targets, due to Russian upgrades that includeability to release radar decoys and execute rapid terminal maneuvers to overwhelm Patriot capabilities.
The Economist Magazine commented:
“A year ago, for 30 drones to strike Ukraine in a single night was considered exceptional. Now Russia is saturating Ukraine’s air defenses with hundreds of them. On May 25th, the Kremlin pummeled the country, with what it called a “massive strike” against its military-industrial sites, featuring 298 drones, probably a record.”
Frances top newspaper Le Mond reported that the Ukrainian rate of destroying or disorienting Russian Shahed drones in 2024 “often exceeded 90%. This is no longer the case today, where the rate sometimes drops to 30%.”
Le Mond quoted a deputy commander of a Ukrainian mobile AD (air defence) unit:
“The trend is bad,” admits Yakout, Deputy Commander of a DAU unit comprising 23 mobile groups and protecting the skies over the Odessa region explained that Russian Shahed-type drones have been perfected since they first appeared in autumn 2022. “Since January, their machines have been flying at altitudes of between 2,000 and 3,000 meters, instead of 200 meters. We can no longer hit them with our guns. When they dive-attack at over 500 km/hour, it's very difficult to hit them.”
Le Monde also revealed that Ukraine has completely run out of missile stocks for its Franco-Italian SAMP/T primary long-range batteries, and has not received a single missile for its Crotale primary short-range anti-aircraft system “for a year and a half.”
The London Financial Times describes described Ukrainian soldiers as weary and demoralized, with no hope on the horizon:
“A deputy commander of an assault unit near Pokrovsk said they were still holding the line, “but we’re exhausted.” He has fought since 2014, through injuries and missing family milestones. Trump’s campaign pledge to end the war in “24h” initially gave him a glimmer of hope. But recent developments have forced him and his troops to ignore the news because it sends them into a rage.
“It’s just noise. Propaganda. Lies,” he said. The war has narrowed his world to “the next mission . . . the next fight” — so much so that at times he does not feel human. “I’m a zombie.” That sense of exhaustion and frustration is spreading through the ranks. Among both seasoned officers and newly mobilizedtroops, morale is fraying — worn down by a growing feeling that there is no clear plan to end the war and that lives are being sacrificed for nothing.”