Defense Forces destroy as many Russians in Dec as Russia calls up in month – Syrsky
December 2025 became the first month when the unmanned systems of the Defense Forces of Ukraine neutralized approximately as many servicemen of the occupation army as Russia called up in a month, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrsky has said.
"The enemy lost more than 33,000 personnel. This number includes only confirmed video cases, but the real losses of the occupiers are greater," Syrsky said on the Telegram channel.
He said last year was indeed a year of great breakthrough in this direction. The unmanned component in the Armed Forces of Ukraine has grown significantly.
"We are not stopping. For 2026, we have planned to further increase the capabilities of the UAV units," the commander-in-chief said.
He also reported that according to military intelligence, the enemy has no less ambitious plans. The Russians have followed our path and created separate troops of unmanned systems, which already number 80,000 servicemen. At the second stage, in 2026, they plan to double them – to 165,500. And by 2030, to almost 210,000.
It is also known that the state order for the production of long-range drones in the Russian Federation has been fulfilled by 106% for the year, and the military-industrial complex of the aggressor country produces more than 400 such UAVs every day.
"We are clearly aware of what we will have to face in the near future and what exactly needs to be done to neutralize the enemy on the battlefield of unmanned systems. In modern warfare, this is a primary goal. To do this, among other things, we have set the task of forming special units designed to effectively detect and destroy enemy high-tech drone units, control points and crews of unmanned aircraft complexes of the occupiers. The one who has an advantage in the quantity and quality of UAVs retains more of his soldiers and destroys the enemy more effectively. And we continue to maintain an advantage in the number of applications of FPV drones," Syrsky said.
Thus, he reported, in December, Ukrainian units of unmanned aerial systems completed about 339,000 missions, ground robotic systems, almost 2,100.
The total number of targets hit and/or destroyed by the Defense Forces' drones increased by 31%, and the number of enemy personnel hit – by more than a quarter.