A manufacturing plant in Russia’s Tatarstan region has significantly scaled up its production of Iranian-designed drones, using a range of Chinese components, and recruiting a low-skilled workforce of Russian teenagers and African women,

There is a constant buzzing of drones of all sizes above the battlefield in Ukraine as both sides are using unmanned aerial systems in great numbers. Drones have become so important throughout the war that the Ukrainian military has established a separate drone service to control and coordinate the employment of the weapon systems.

Russian forces have attacked Ukraine with 60 drones over the past 24 hours. Ukrainian air defence units have shot down 36 UAVs, while 23 decoy drones have disappeared from radar due to electronic warfare countermeasures.