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Shaheds, Lancets, fiber-optic FPVs and the counter-drone scramble — Russia’s drone war, tracked.

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Russian drone operations run on two tracks, and this desk covers both: the open war in Ukraine, and the deniable campaign of incursions and sabotage reaching into Europe.

The European file thickened fast. The Leipzig cargo-drone bomb hit the Antonov’s wing — and the DNA trail led to Lithuania. Days later, drones circled Europe’s only Patriot repair base at Mechernich. Germany’s answer was institutional: a dedicated counter-drone test center at Cochstedt.

Discipline matters on this beat more than most, because fear inflates the record. The IISS report on Russia’s shadow campaign does the unglamorous work of separating documented incidents from phantom ones — and we treat that distinction as the story, not a footnote.

The technology track runs through the war itself: volume production, and now AI guidance on commodity hardware. The defenses being built against all of it live on the counter-drone desk, and the incidents as they happen on the drone incident desk. Every Russian drone story lands in the feed below.

Key facts

Two campaigns
The open war in Ukraine, and a deniable campaign of incursions and sabotage across Europe
Europe's file
The Leipzig cargo bomb hit an Antonov's wing; drones circled Europe's only Patriot repair base days later; Germany opened a counter-drone test center in response
The discipline
Not every reported incident is real — the IISS separates documented Russian drone incidents from phantom ones, and the difference matters

Start here

Last updated September 19, 2026 — the feed below updates with every new story.

Frequently asked questions

Is Russia flying drones over Europe?

Documented incidents exist — the Leipzig explosive drone that struck an Antonov's wing, surveillance drones over the Patriot repair base at Mechernich. But not every headline incident checks out, which is why we lean on work like the IISS report separating real incidents from phantom ones. Attribution is the hard part, and honest reporting says so.

What drones does Russia use in Ukraine?

The full spectrum: Shahed-type long-range munitions, FPV strike drones in enormous volume, and increasingly AI-guided types — one built on an off-the-shelf Nvidia Jetson chip killed three civilians in Zaporizhzhia.

How is Europe responding?

By building the counter-drone infrastructure it did not have: Germany opened a dedicated test center at Cochstedt after Leipzig, and airport and base defenses that were theoretical two years ago are now procurement programs.

— The DroneXL Briefing · Free

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