Ukraine’s long-range strikes bring war home to Russia

The attacks are mostly carried out at night. Most will be shot down. As few as 10% may reach the target. Some drones are even shot down along the way by friendly fire – Ukraine’s own air defences.

Ukraine has had to work out ways to counter Russian electronic jamming. Terminal Autonomy’s Scythe drone uses visual positioning – navigating its course and examining the terrain by Artificial Intelligence. There is no pilot involved.

Palantir software will have already mapped the best routes. Mr Serra-Martins says flying a lot of drones is key to overwhelming and exhausting Russia’s air defences. So too is making the drones cheaper than the missiles trying to shoot them down, or the targets they are trying to hit.

Prof Justin Bronk of the Royal United Services Institute says Ukraine’s long-range drone attacks are creating dilemmas for Moscow. Although Russia has a lot of air defences, it still cannot protect everything.

Prof Bronk says Ukraine’s long-range strikes are showing ordinary Russians that “the state can’t defend them fully and that Russia is vulnerable”.

Ukrainian drones have been spotted more than 1,000km (620 miles) inside Russia. They have been shot down over Moscow.

But the focus has been on military sites. The map below highlights just a handful of the dozen targets hit over the past few months. They include five Russian airbases.