Three Quarters of Russian Military Injuries in Positional Warfare Are From UAVs

Among all injuries of Russian soldiers sustained during inactive phase of hostilities, more than 75% were caused by Ukrainian UAV attacks.

These statistics were cited by Russian military medics — their article was released in the March issue of the Military Medical Journal, which is published by the Russian Defense Ministry. For the study, the doctors interviewed about 6,000 injured servicemen.

Another 20% of the soldiers interviewed were injured by artillery fire, and 4% were injured by small arms fire.

To inactive hostilities, medics refer to periodic, non-intensive fighting and positional warfare, when the sides are not on the offensive. According to the military medics' report, the main Ukrainian means of engagement during this period is small attack UAVs.

Drones have also affected the time it takes to evacuate the injured for surgical care. It tripled to 14.5 hours, the researchers wrote.

In July 2024, the same group of medics already published a similar study: on injuries sustained during active combat operations, such as assaults. At that time, the researchers did not single out UAV injuries as a separate group. But, according to their data, during active combat, the absolute majority of injuries, 94.4%, are shrapnel and blast injuries. All injuries received from drones fall into these two categories.

The Russian-Ukrainian war is the first large-scale conflict in which drones have been used so extensively. According to the Ukraine, UAV attacks account for 70 to 80% of all military casualties.

Drones are also effective in destroying military hardware, including heavy equipment. For example, of the 31 Abrams tanks that the United States delivered to Ukraine in 2023, 19 were taken out of service, including by drones, The New York Times wrote, citing a high-ranking Ukrainian official.