Russians are increasing drone production: Kremlin plans to produce 6,000 “Shaheeds” every month

The Russians are stepping up their airstrikes on Ukrainian cities as they rapidly ramp up production of strike drones.

This was reported on CNN.

According to Ukrainian intelligence, Russia aims to produce 6,000 Shahed attack drones every month. It is noted that producing drones domestically costs the Kremlin much less than purchasing them from Iran.

“In 2022, Russia paid an average of $200,000 for one such drone,” an intelligence source explained.

Currently, one drone costs about $70,000, so Russia has launched large-scale production at the Alabuga plant in Tatarstan.

However, estimates may vary. In particular, according to analysts at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), the price of one drone ranges from $20,000 to $50,000.

“For comparison, a single surface-to-air missile interceptor can cost more than $3 million,” the CNN article says.

Thus, the relatively low cost of weapons allows the Russians to intensify night shelling, as well as to carry out large-scale attacks on Ukraine more often.

As a reminder, between 2022 and 2025 , Russia allocated at least $3 billion to develop its own drone industry , in particular, kamikaze attack drones of the Shahed type.

As is known, recently the Russians have significantly accelerated construction at the Alabuga plant in the south of the Russian Federation , where Shahed-type strike drones are manufactured.

It was previously reported that even underage girls from the Alabuga Polytechnic educational institution, some of whom are only 16 years old, are being involved in assembling drones at the factory.

By the way, on June 15, units of the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine struck an important facility of the Russian military-industrial complex – a plant for the production of attack drones in the city of Yelabuga in Tatarstan.