4,132 drones, 156 missiles: Russian attacks on Ukraine dip in August amid fruitless peace talks

A Ukrainian officer shows a thermobaric charge from a downed Russian drone in a research laboratory in an undisclosed location in Ukraine on, Nov. 14, 2024.

Russia's long-range drone strikes on Ukraine dipped sharply over August, an AFP analysis published on Monday showed, during a flurry of high-profile but fruitless meetings aimed at ending Moscow's grinding invasion.

The fall off in drone strikes came after months of escalating aerial attacks and meetings US President Donald Trump hosted with the Russian and Ukrainian leaders that ended without any breakthrough.

An AFP analysis of data published by the Ukrainian air force showed that Russia launched 4,132 long-range drones at Ukraine in overnight attacks over the month of August -- a 34-percent decrease on July, when Russia fired a record number of drones.

Despite the overall decrease, Russian attacks still killed dozens of civilians.

Moscow's military hit Kyiv with one of the worst drone and missile attacks of the war on August 28, killing 25 people, mainly in a residential building.

AFP journalists on Sunday saw friends and relatives weeping over coffins and burying a 24-year-old woman and her two-year-old daughter, who were killed in the barrage.

Moscow has fired almost nightly aerial drone and missile attacks on Ukraine since it launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, sparking the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War II.

There has not been a single night without a Russian long-range drone attack since May.

Sophisticated attacks

Russia also launched some 156 missiles at Ukraine across the month of August, according to the Ukrainian air force data.

The AFP analysis -- based on official reports published each morning by the Ukrainian air force -- does not account for every Russian attack.

The number of projectiles launched by Russian forces is likely to be higher, air force officials have told AFP.

Ukrainian air defence units are adapting to the increasingly sophisticated attacks that have been growing in size over recent months.

AFP's analysis of the air force data showed that Kyiv's forces downed 83 percent of Russian drones and missiles, representing a five-percentage-point decrease over July.

The dip in Russian drone attacks fell mainly in the first half of the month, when Trump hosted Russian leader Vladimir Putin for a high-profile meeting in Alaska that saw no progress towards ending the war.

Trump then hosted European leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has been appealing to allies for more air defence systems to protect against the Ukrainian attacks.