Ukrainian Volunteer Army spokesman Serhii Bratchuk said this on Espreso TV.“Yes, the problem with enemy drones in southern Ukraine is serious. Right now, across the Forces of Unmanned Systems and other units in the Defense Forces, the top priority is destroying enemy crews carrying out these attacks. Over the past month, Defense Force units have identified 90 such crews and destroyed 42 of them. So we can see progress, though I wouldn’t say it’s been ‘scaled up’ because taking out each enemy UAV crew is a real win. Russian troops are hiding in civilian buildings, in high-rise apartments on the left bank of the occupied territories. Sometimes they even launch drones from inside these homes. So obviously, it’s very hard to hit these crews without risking civilian lives,” Bratchuk said.Bratchuk also said that the key way to fight Russian drones is by targeting production sites.He added that to boost the number of strike drones, Russians are strapping explosives to so-called decoy drones.“Yes, the main thing is hitting the drone production bases. When it comes to strike drones, we’re still seeing the Geran drones. The Russians seem to be having issues with the fully Iranian-made Shaheds, but that doesn’t mean production has stopped—it’s ongoing. They’re ramping up both strike drone and decoy production. Now they’re even trying to turn the Gerbera decoys into strike drones by attaching warheads. These warheads are smaller than the ones on the Geran or Shahed, but they’re still dangerous. And these drones are showing up more and more. So yes, hitting the production facilities, especially in Tatarstan, where the locations are known, is crucial. Our drones are getting there, though we’d like them to hit harder and more often. That could ease the pressure, both on the front line and on civilians being terrorized,” the spokesman said.On the night of July 9, Russia launched a record number of drones and missiles at Ukraine. Ukrainian air defenders shot down 718 Russian targets.Of the 728 attack drones launched by Russia at Ukraine on the night of July 9, 50–60% were Shaheds.