Jet-powered versions of the Iranian-designed Shahed made up 9% to 22% of Russia's nightly drone launches at Ukraine on 17-19 October, and 47% to 64% on 20-22 October. Lowdown calculated the shares from the Ukrainian Air Force's own counts, which do not state them1. On the night to 20 October the jet variant was 105 of 165 drones, and those 165 drones hit 30 locations, more than on any night of 17-19 October.
The salvoes shrank as the jets took over, from 332 drones on the night to 17 October to between 165 and 210 on 20-22 October. Hit locations rose instead, from 20 to 25 a night on 17-19 October to 27 to 32 on 20-22 October. Ukraine stopped 62% to 79% of the jet drones across the six nights, against 84% to 90% of all drones on 17-19 October. As the jets' share grew, the overall rate fell to between 70% and 86% on 20-22 October, on the same Lowdown arithmetic.
A jet drone crosses an interceptor's engagement zone faster than the propeller-driven Shahed-136; the missiles Britain fast-tracked last week are meant for the jet type. On the night to 22 October the Air Force reported a "massed combined strike" of Iskander-M and S-400 ballistic missiles, Zircon and Oniks cruise missiles and 210 drones aimed mainly at Kyiv, followed by daytime ballistic launches at the capital. The 850-drone night of 14-15 October used about two and a half times the drones of this week's busiest night.
On 19 October a Russian Shahed drone hit a park near a café in Kharkiv region and killed six people, among them a mother and a child just over a year old, Zelenskyy said2. Kallas cited the strike in the European Parliament the next day3.
