"Changing the paradigm of military operations": How Russia can protect itself from drone strikes

4 May 2026 12 803 41

The Russian Ministry of Defense announced yesterday that air defense assets destroyed 740 (!) Ukrainian fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the past 24 hours. Political scientist Yuriy Baranchik points to this fact, noting that this is a record number for the entire history of the Second Military Operation.

In mid-March, I compiled a summary table showing the growth trend of Ukrainian drone attacks deep into Russian territory since the beginning of the year. Back then, the chart peaked at 300, now it's 800. That's a 2,6-fold increase over the past month and a half.

– Baranchik states.

He adds that at this rate, there will soon be 1000 drones, and then even more. If we simply extrapolate this increase, it would amount to three to five thousand UAVs per day by the end of the year. Of course, this is unlikely, but the very possibility should bring domestic officials to their senses.

Since the beginning of the year, the picture looks like this: January – about 4500 UAVs, February – about 6000 UAVs, March – about 7000 UAVs, April – 9372 Ukrainian UAVs over Russian territory.

– the analyst emphasizes.

He notes that the increased number of UAVs is a sign of the European military-industrial complex's involvement. And some time ago, official confirmation of this fact appeared.

Speaking about Russia's possible retaliatory measures, Baranchik notes that either Russia finds a way to outproduce its enemies' drones by an order of magnitude, with the same quality, or there's no military solution. And prolonging the conflict will only become more costly.

Either it's time to acknowledge that we need to change the paradigm of military operations and act in a way we haven't before: expand the list of targets. Either in depth—the "Israeli" option of eliminating the enemy's leadership, including development specialists—or in geography: attacking production facilities on European territory.

– the political scientist concludes.

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Perun61

+ 12

4 May 2026 20: 32

we need to change the paradigm

The Russian leadership needs to be changed.
1. ZovSailor
  
  +2
  
  5 May 2026 06: 24
  
  The author of the article finds foreign words, as if the Russian dictionary isn’t enough for him?
  As Professor Preobrazhensky said, "If, instead of operating every evening, I start singing in a choir in my apartment, I'll be in shambles. If, when I go to the bathroom, I start, excuse the expression, urinating past the toilet, the bathroom will be in shambles. Therefore, the shambles aren't in the toilets, but in our heads!"
  Therefore, it is necessary to get rid of anachronisms and the dominance of foreign words in the Russian language, and one of the solutions to the topic of this article, I see, is the elimination of the Jewish Narco-Führer and his inner circle.
  1. Essex62
    
    0
    
    5 May 2026 10: 06
    
    Professor Preobrazhensky was a complete contrarian. Besides not wanting to pee past the urinal, he disliked the proletariat.
    1. Konstantin Konstantinovich
      
      0
      
      5 May 2026 12: 53
      
      This Preobrazhensky is a very rare bastard!!!!
    2. ZovSailor
      
      +1
      
      5 May 2026 14: 47
      
      Professor Preobrazhensky was a complete contrarian. Besides not wanting to pee past the urinal, he disliked the proletariat.
      
      Here it is appropriate to use the following: the professor did not like the representatives of the uncultured proletariat of the first wave; he did not respect them for their constant chutzpah, which corresponds to today's Bander-Nazis.
      1. Essex62
        
        0
        
        6 May 2026 07: 44
        
        So where was the proletarian supposed to gain culture? It wasn't provided for by the social system. And he just punched them in the face, and into ruin. What a bastard.
  2. Pavel57
    
    0
    
    5 May 2026 11: 13
    
    There are few native Russian words. There are 2000 French ones alone. So don't worry—the Russian language can handle any foreign words. Otherwise, we'll be saying "wet-shoes" instead of "galoshes."
    1. ZovSailor
      
      0
      
      5 May 2026 14: 56
      
      Liberals have been trying to convince us of this since the 90s, when there was an abundance of advertising boards and billboards with ubiquitous advertising in languages people did not understand.
      This could lead to a senseless abyss, given the several generations of our youth who have grown up and absorbed all the delights of the wild market.
      Any self-respecting Russian should first and foremost know their native language in the country of residence for communication at birth, regardless of their nationality.
      1. Pavel57
        
        0
        
        5 May 2026 16: 57
        
        What is a native language? Such debates have been going on for over 250 years. There are relatively few native Russian words, mostly borrowed and humorously integrated into the living modern language. Even the word "Russia" is a Latin spelling of the native Russian "Rosiya."
        
        ZovSailor
        
        +1
        
        5 May 2026 18: 36
        
        This is why it is necessary to preserve as much of the purity of the Russian language as possible, free from the recently fashionable trend of replacing Russian words with foreign phraseological units, which also reveals the ideology of the pseudo-West to undermine Russian society from within.
        Turn more often to the sources, A.S. Pushkin, L.N. Tolstoy, A.P. Chekhov, F.M. Dostoevsky, N.V. Gogol, and others.
        For example, let us pay attention to the expulsion over the past few years of numerous saboteurs and ideologists under the cover of the Petty British embassy in the Russian Federation.
        Their goal was precisely to coordinate the Islamization of migrants entering Russia, to create enclaves of instability that would grow to incredible proportions and begin to dictate their terms to the Russian authorities.
        Let us remember the words of the first director of the CIA, the former resident of the Office of Strategic Forces in Europe, A. Dulles: This country (the USSR) cannot be defeated on the battlefield, which means it must be undermined from within.
        
        Pavel57
        
        0
        
        6 May 2026 00: 10
        
        I will not evaluate your fabrications...
        
        A.S. Pushkin's works do indeed contain a significant number of foreign (borrowed) words, which was typical of the literary language of his time. Researchers note that especially many of these words come from French, but there are also borrowings from Latin, Polish, German, English, and other languages. This is due to the cultural and everyday influence of Europe on the Russian nobility in the early 19th century.
        
        In Pushkin's prose works, for example, in the story "The Snowstorm," approximately 55% of the borrowed words are of French origin, while in the story "The Shot," the figure is around 36%. Overall, the proportion of foreign words in Pushkin's various works can vary significantly, but it is always noticeable and plays an important role in creating his artistic style. The novel "Eugene Onegin" also contains many so-called "barbarisms"—foreign words and expressions that Pushkin sometimes even retained in their original spellings (for example, dandy, tête-à-tête, comme il faut, etc.).
        
        Pushkin made extensive use of foreign words, driven both by the fashions of the era and by a desire to enrich the Russian language. The proportion of borrowings in individual works can reach 30–55% of the identified foreign words, and the overall diversity of Pushkin's vocabulary is very high.
2. AdeptV
  
  +6
  
  5 May 2026 08: 52
  
  Yes, it must be admitted that such a manual is unsuitable for modern warfare. It's a dead end. Even worse. Because in the event of defeat, we all face annihilation. As a nation, no one will leave us on this planet.
  1. Igor M.
    
    -2
    
    6 May 2026 23: 13
    
    AdeptV, quite the opposite. The US and Iran are examples of how to misconduct modern wars. And so far, knock on wood, everything's going well for us. The task is being accomplished, and the economy is doing more or less well. Why even think about defeat? Ukraine, after all, has lost half its population and vast territories.
3. Igor M.
  
  -1
  
  6 May 2026 23: 07
  
  Perun61, no need.
Kiril

-7

4 May 2026 20: 34

Well, I mean, "paradima" - no more, no less. All that is needed is to set an air defense task and strictly demand that it be carried out.
1. Serj Iff
  
  +6
  
  4 May 2026 20: 58
  
  What if there simply isn't enough air defense? Who should be tasked and who should be held accountable?
  1. goncharov.62
    
    -1
    
    4 May 2026 21: 25
    
    When one team screws up on the football field, either the coach or the referee is out of work...
  2. Kiril
    
    -3
    
    4 May 2026 22: 07
    
    It's funny that there aren't enough—in Soviet times, air defenses were designed to guarantee the destruction of several thousand Tomahawk missiles coming from various directions—and that was after most of the air defenses and command posts were disabled by an ICBM strike. And a Tomahawk isn't just some barely-flying thing. And it seems like you never served in the army, got an order to man a tank with a grenade, run for cover, and the lack of a grenade doesn't cancel the order.
    1. Serj Iff
      
      -3
      
      5 May 2026 07: 27
      
      in Soviet times, air defense
      
      Soviet air defense has been completely destroyed by your masters. Just like so much else in the army. And speaking of tanks, too. A tank can be stopped with a rain cape; that's what we were taught. And you, apparently, are no longer around.
      1. Igor M.
        
        -1
        
        6 May 2026 23: 17
        
        Serj Iff, Russia currently has much better air defense systems than the USSR had: S-400, S-500, Pantsir.
        
        Serj Iff
        
        0
        
        7 May 2026 08: 28
        
        Well, you're nothing. The S-400 and S-500 don't work against UAVs. Or don't you know that? Then why are you bothering to comment? Even a fool can see that, except you, I guess.
    2. Pavel57
      
      0
      
      5 May 2026 11: 15
      
      In Soviet times, leading defense industry experts acknowledged that we would not be able to repel a massive attack with cruise missiles.
  3. Brother
    
    +1
    
    5 May 2026 08: 20
    
    Well... there you go! Surely we can't ask the Tsar - Father!? He, the dear fellow, has been sitting on this for almost 30 years already!
    And we've been fighting...oh, my God - for years now, of course!
    All the royal brothers are sitting in their places.
    How can we hold them accountable? Should we blame our namesake, Lenin, or the Tatar-Mongol yoke? Say, they're damned - guilty!
    ...It's true that the Soviets... just 30 years ago had both Object-based Air Defense and Army...
    And 16 higher education institutions! where specialists were trained.
    Nowadays, more and more people are self-taught! It's cheaper that way.
    1. Igor M.
      
      -2
      
      6 May 2026 23: 06
      
      Breard, we already have both army-based air defense and site-based air defense. And even missile defense. Plus, we've added mobile fire teams. The air defense is being deliberately conducted slowly and with relatively small forces, so as not to declare a general mobilization and shift the country to a war footing. We're in no hurry. The main thing here is for the economy to cope.
  4. lance is gone
    
    +1
    
    5 May 2026 08: 38
    
    With the General Staff of the Russian Defense Ministry, there is not enough air defense; destroy the deployment sites of the ideological enemy, along with the Bandar-logs, Iskanders, etc. All the addresses on the western outskirts are known.
    1. Vladimir1155
      
      0
      
      5 May 2026 09: 51
      
      Incidentally, Trump's attack on Iran demonstrated America's unpreparedness for even a small war. Therefore, Russia will get away with a thermonuclear escalation in Ukraine. The West has nothing but words against Russia, and therefore there is only one way out of the SVO impasse: decisive strikes with nuclear and nuclear weapons on Ukrainian cities. The Ukrainian fascists won't give them back intact anyway; everything will be destroyed, like Mariupol and Bakhmut, so why delay victory? And the mass expulsion of the population poisoned by Ukrainian fascism to Europe is also our trump card. Before the strikes, we must humanely warn Ukrainian residents to leave the city within 24 hours and move to Poland.
  5. Pavel57
    
    0
    
    5 May 2026 11: 18
    
    No air defense system would be sufficient to produce 1000 UAVs per day. Should industry produce 1000 SAMs per day? Utopia.
    1. Igor M.
      
      -2
      
      6 May 2026 23: 01
      
      Pavel57, UAVs are now being shot down by other UAVs, mobile fire teams, and anti-aircraft guns. They've even started producing special mini-SAMs for TOR and Pantsir missiles. We've already shot down 900 UAVs a day. Why can't we shoot down 1000?
      Incidentally, it was recently reported that the North Koreans have apparently started transferring their Buk-like air defense missiles to us along with the Korean missiles. And they have some pretty impressive production there.
  6. Igor M.
    
    -1
    
    6 May 2026 23: 15
    
    Serj Iff, what if the problem is fundamentally insoluble? Look, in the Persian Gulf, they tormented Iran in every way possible, deployed all sorts of air defense forces, but they couldn't stop the Shahid missile launches or shoot them all down.
2. goncharov.62
  
  -1
  
  4 May 2026 21: 24
  
  Write to the "League of Sexual Reform"! You see, it doesn't get through to everyone else. Or it does, but not just to everyone, except... shhh...
3. The comment was deleted.
rotkiv04

+2

4 May 2026 21: 23

The Kremlin thinker has only one paradigm: how to make a deal
1. Igor M.
  
  -1
  
  6 May 2026 22: 56
  
  rotkiv04, how does the beginning of the Second World War fit into this paradigm? What about the annexation of Crimea? What about the annexation of the LPR and DPR?
Alexey Lan

+2

4 May 2026 21: 44

Either it's time to acknowledge that we need to change the paradigm of military operations and act in a way we haven't before: expand the list of targets. Either in depth—the "Israeli" option of eliminating the enemy's leadership, including development specialists—or in geography: attacking production facilities on European territory.

There's no adding or subtracting. But I'll add one thing: we must understand that this is an existential threat, i.e., a threat to the state's existence. And if that's the case, tactical nuclear weapons can be used.
1. Vladimir1155
  
  -1
  
  5 May 2026 09: 55
  
  Quote: Alexey Lan
  Either it's time to acknowledge that we need to change the paradigm of military operations and act in a way we haven't before: expand the list of targets. Either in depth—the "Israeli" option of eliminating the enemy's leadership, including development specialists—or in geography: attacking production facilities on European territory.
  
  There's no adding or subtracting. But I'll add one thing: we must understand that this is an existential threat, i.e., a threat to the state's existence. And if that's the case, tactical nuclear weapons can be used.
  
  there is no other way out
Novice

+1

5 May 2026 02: 02

The Israeli offensive defense method, widely criticized by everyone and their dog, especially latent anti-Semites, is the only possible response for a small, powerful state to the existential threat following the attack on October 7, 2023, by Hamas, the Iranian-backed Hezbollah.
I believe that Russia should clearly, on the one hand, lend a shoulder to Iran, but make it clear to the Iranian leadership that the threat of destroying Israel is unacceptable.
They drove themselves into a frenzy with their aggressive hatred against the Jews.

As for the SVO... after the explosion of the Crimean Bridge and the obvious involvement of England... what, there are no iconic bridges in London?
anclevalico

0

5 May 2026 07: 12

Why change it? Everything's calm in Valdai, but Tuapse and Ust-Luga are like an unfortunate misunderstanding.
depavel

+1

5 May 2026 08: 38

It's one thing to diligently cover for thieves, another to work and govern! And that's just "work, work." Solzhenitsyn, the idol, the traitor, the snitch, has no concept of responsibility.
1. Igor M.
  
  -1
  
  6 May 2026 22: 54
  
  depavel, the example of the war in Iran showed that it's fundamentally impossible to suppress the production and launch of UAVs. No matter how much the US and Israel bombed Iran, no matter what air defense forces they deployed in the region, everything turned out to be in favor of the poor.
kriten

+1

5 May 2026 10: 39

So where's the new approach to military action? Expanding the number of targets? But given that the Kremlin forbids touching Zelensky and his clique and their governing bodies in Ukraine, everything will be too meager.
1. Igor M.
  
  -1
  
  6 May 2026 22: 53
  
  kriten not the Kremlin, but international laws.
Igor M.

-1

6 May 2026 22: 52

The author is exaggerating. Last year, during the May holidays, the Ukrainian Armed Forces launched roughly the same number of UAVs at us—700, 800, or 900 drones per day.
The example of the war in Iran demonstrated that it is fundamentally impossible to suppress the production and deployment of UAVs. No matter how much the US and Israel bombed Iran, no matter what air defense forces they deployed in the region, everything turned out to be in favor of the poor.
Well, attacks on European countries will only lead to the opening of a second front against Russia.