Ukraine keeps knocking down Russia’s Iranian-made drones, U.K. officials say

Ukraine is becoming “increasingly successful” at intercepting the Iranian-made drones that Russia has deployed in its faltering invasion, destroying up to 85% of them before they can hit their targets, British military officials said Monday.

Russia is continuing to rely on the Iranian Shahed-136 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in its campaign that has dragged on for nearly nine months, British military intelligence officials tweeted.

“These UAVs are slow, noisy, and fly at low altitudes, making lone aircraft easy to target using conventional air defenses,” British officials tweeted.

Russia is likely going through a large number of Iranian drones in an attempt to penetrate Ukraine’s increasingly effective air defenses.

“It is likely using them as a substitute for Russian-manufactured long-range precision weapons which are becoming increasingly rare,” British officials said.