Ukraine reports record Russian casualties, seeks to expand drone production

The previous record of 46,230 was set in September, part of a sharp increase in reported dead and wounded since the summer. Ukrainian Unmanned Systems Forces commander Robert Brovdi described the attrition as a "massive industrial slaughter". Al Jazeera notes it cannot independently verify casualty estimates from either side.

Defence Minister Yevhenii Khmara this week asked European allies to fund a doubling of drone production to about 16 million units next year. Ukrainian Defence Ministry adviser Serhiy Beskrestnov said: “We see signs that mass production is preferred over technological sophistication. Mass production and simplicity will overcome technology.” Zelenskyy has said output could be tripled with sufficient funding.

The Netherlands said it would provide 500 million euros ($560m) in immediate additional military aid and 1.2 billion euros ($1.34bn) in additional financing. UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham upped Britain’s commitments by 10 billion pounds ($13.4bn) over three years, including 3 billion pounds ($4bn) for weapons.

Ukraine announced Starlink satellite navigation services were back to normal on October 24. Its Defence Ministry reported stable communications at over 400km/h after a period in which Ukraine had said it was losing control of drones above about 150km/h, making it difficult to mount a defence against Russian jet-powered drones. Musk stated he had “closed a loophole” that had allowed Ukraine to use Starlink offensively. The Institute for the Study of War said the 10-day outage caused Ukraine’s interception rate to fall from 77 per cent to 74 per cent. Nevertheless, according to Ukrainian Air Force data, Ukraine shot down at least 75 per cent of jet-powered drones in the week ending October 29, well above the three-month average of 60 per cent. Kyiv is also pursuing an independent sovereign military satellite system in partnership with Finland, involving ICEYE and Nokia, with satellite launches set to begin in 2028.

Zelenskyy said recent delays in the delivery of Patriot and NASAMS interceptor missiles were “directly helping Russia achieve the goals of its terrorist campaign”. Russian ballistic missiles struck a university campus in central Kyiv on October 27, and a drone struck a Dnipro train platform on October 29, killing at least 14 people.

Ukraine struck Russia during the past week. Its missiles destroyed the main microchip production building of Proton-Electrotex in Orel, a facility making missile components, and damaged five chemical plants producing rocket propellants.

On the ground, the Khartiia Corps, now part of the National Guard, announced it had completed Operation Veles to flush Russian infiltrators out of a disused gas pipeline. Ukrainian forces advanced 15 kilometres underground through the pipeline and tunnels to emerge behind Russian positions. “The Russians tried to use underground gas pipelines to move past our positions,” Zelenskyy said. “Our warriors turned this tactic against the Russians.” Khartiia Corps said the operation killed or wounded 100 Russian soldiers and captured 30. Spokesman Viktor Tregubov said Russian forces had used Ukrainian civilians as human shields while evacuating their wounded. Ukrainian forces were also reported to have liberated three settlements, Peredubova, Komar and Fedorivka, on the Donetsk-Zaporizhia border.

Diplomatically, Ukrainian and Russian technical teams are expected to meet under US auspices on November 10. Zelenskyy supports a ceasefire covering energy infrastructure and grain exports. President Vladimir Putin, however, denied the existence of a Ukrainian people, described Ukraine as “the territory of historical Russia” and refused an energy truce. Foreign policy adviser Valery Ushakov said the talks “will not resolve much”, while Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov dismissed the conversation as “Europeans’ desire to squeeze into the negotiation process”.