🇺🇦🇷🇺Ukraine vs Russia

'We Continue to Break Enemy’s Backbone': Syrsky Says Drones Drive Ukraine’s Frontline Advantage

Ukraine’s top commander says drone units are inflicting record losses on Russian forces, helping Kyiv retain the strategic initiative and block a major offensive.

Kyiv Post

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९ अप्रैल, 2026

4 min read

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Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) Oleksandr Syrsky said the Defense Forces continue to hold the strategic initiative and are preventing Russian troops from launching a large-scale offensive.

According to a statement on Telegram, one of the key factors behind Ukraine’s advantage is its unmanned forces, which are currently inflicting the most significant and effective damage on Russian troops.

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“For four months in a row, starting from December 2025, our unmanned systems units have neutralized more enemy personnel than they recruit to their ranks,” Syrsky said.

He rebealed that during a meeting on the development of unmanned systems, the military summarized and analyzed the results for March.

“In March, compared to February, the total losses of enemy personnel caused by our unmanned systems units increased by 29%. Thank you to our soldiers for their effective work!” Syrsky wrote.

He added that, on average, unmanned systems units now carry out more than 11,000 combat missions per day. At the same time, in March, 50% more verified targets were hit compared to February – more than 150,000 in total.

“I would like to separately highlight the increase in the effectiveness of our medium-strike capabilities. Almost 350 strikes were carried out to operational depth (30-120 km),” Syrsky said.

According to him, Ukrainian forces struck 143 Russian logistics facilities and warehouses, 52 command posts, 20 oil and energy facilities, and other targets in March.

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Syrsky said these results reflect the combined effect of domestic production of unmanned aerial systems, improved operator skills, and organizational decisions by the Ukrainian military command.

Ukrainian ground robotic systems also increased the number of completed tasks by more than 50% in March compared to February, he added.

At the same time, Syrsky acknowledged that Russia has also expanded its unmanned systems forces. According to intelligence data, the number of Russian personnel in such units reached 101,000 by early April and is expected to grow to 165,500 by the end of 2026.

“Therefore, we have no right to stop in this decisive confrontation,” Syrsky wrote.

He stressed that the further development of unmanned systems units across different branches of the AFU is ongoing.

“This time, it is worth noting the comprehensive work of the 414th Separate Brigade of Unmanned Systems (USF) ‘Birds of Madyar’ in detecting and destroying enemy unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) launch sites,” Syrsky wrote.

“A telling figure: 26% more enemy pilot positions were suppressed in March than in February,” he added.

The AFU chief said that following the meeting, he had set new tasks for the continued development of Ukraine’s unmanned systems.

“We continue to break the enemy’s backbone and at the same time save the lives of Ukrainian soldiers,” Syrsky said.

In a later Thursday’s report, he added that Russian troop activity is particularly high in the Pokrovsk direction: over the past week, Defense Forces repelled a total of 260 Russian attacks there.

He said he had made another working trip to the area of responsibility of the 7th Rapid Reaction Corps of the Airborne Assault Forces.