Russia has significantly scaled up its drone and missile production in 2025, allowing it to rapidly increase the size of its strike packages that it launches against Ukraine, experts have said. They added that the Kremlin will “only continue to invest in its drone and missile production capabilities” despite the upcoming meeting between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump on peace in Kyiv. Sparking chilling WW3 fears, the expert said this move is in preparation for “a prolonged war effort in Ukraine and potential future conflict against NATO”. The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) emphasised that Russia has already conducted more than 10 of the largest-ever drone and missile strikes in its war against Ukraine so far, and is thought to be seeking to boost its strike capability to contain up to 2,000 drones.
Ukraine’s Main Military Intelligence Directorate (GUR) reported on June 9 that Russia can produce roughly 170 Shahed-type drones per day, and that it plans to increase production capacity to 190 drones per day by the end of the year. GUR intelligence also said it had been suggested in June that Russia had stockpiled roughly 600 Iskander-M ballistic missiles and 300 Iskander-K cruise missiles. Should Russia sustain its current pace of missile strikes against Ukraine, the reserve would last for about two years, specialists said.
They added: “A temporary strikes moratorium would also degrade Ukraine’s long-range strike campaign targeting Russia’s defence industrial facilities and energy infrastructure — a campaign that is aimed at targeting Russia’s defense production and energy revenues, as opposed to the solely civilian infrastructure that the Russian campaign often strikes.”
The country will continue to “heavily invest in its long-range drone and missile production capabilities”, those in the know noted, which includes “leaning on” countries like Belarus, Iran, China and North Korea for weapons provisions, joint production efforts, and sanctions evasion schemes.
The ISW added: “Russia will only continue to invest in its drone and missile production capabilities and lean on its allies as it prepares for a prolonged war effort in Ukraine and potential future conflict against NATO.
“The size of Russia’s strike packages against Ukraine will therefore likely only continue to increase, as will the damage to civilian infrastructure and civilian casualties.”
Specialists have suggested that it is possible that the Baltic states – Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania – could be the next target of Russian aggression.
On August 9, Russian state news outlet Interfax reported that Estonia, with the support of the European Commission, plans to take out a loan of up to €3.6billion (£3.1billion) to finance defence spending.
“Estonia is interested in receiving a loan,” Janno Luurmees, head of the state treasury department at the Ministry of Finance, reportedly told the ERR portal.
“The Ministry of Defence has prepared and sent a preliminary application for a loan to the European Commission, but the entire process is still at a relatively early stage.”
It comes after Ukraine’s President Zelensky said that, in July alone, Russia launched more than 5,100 glide bombs, 3,800 Shahed drones, and 260 missiles, including 128 ballistic.
An attack on Kyiv is thought to have killed at least 31 people.
US President Donald Trump is due to meet with Putin in Alaska on Friday.
