About the Tracker

Ukraine War Unmanned Systems Tracker

An independent open-source research project tracking drone warfare, naval drone operations, ground robot deployments, and Russian losses in Ukraine. The data presented here is compiled and curated from publicly available sources — not independently generated. The analytical work on top of it is original.

What this is

The tracker is a structured database of open-source intelligence on unmanned systems in the Russia-Ukraine war, maintained alongside doctoral research at King's College London. Its value lies in the curation, structuring, and analysis of data that exists across hundreds of disparate public sources — not in any claim to original data collection.

All primary data comes from Ukrainian government bodies, open-source researchers, verified video evidence, and credible media reporting. Every entry carries source citations. Where sources conflict, the more conservative assessment is applied.

What this isn't

This tracker does not conduct original fieldwork, interview combatants, or have access to classified or government-restricted information. It is not affiliated with any military, government, or intelligence organisation. It does not claim to be comprehensive — particularly for recent events where open-source coverage is still developing.

The original analyses in the Analyses and Deep Strike Research tabs are working findings — data-driven but not peer-reviewed. They should be treated as research-in-progress, not authoritative conclusions.

About the author
Andro Mathewson
PhD Candidate in War Studies · King's College London

Doctoral researcher specialising in the strategic impact of emerging military technologies, with a focus on unmanned systems in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Dissertation: The Strategic Impact of Emerging Military Technologies, examining how FPV drones, unmanned surface vessels, and unmanned ground vehicles have influenced strategic outcomes.

This tracker began as a research tool for the dissertation and has since developed into a public-facing database. The analytical framework behind the original analyses — a two-variable matrix of technological effectiveness and perceived threat — is drawn directly from the doctoral research.

2024 Bellingcat Tech Fellow Junior Associate Fellow · NATO Defense College Centre for Information Resilience Scottish International Education Trust
Published in
Bellingcat Military Times Modern War Institute · West Point Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists The National Interest Wavell Room Internationale Politik The Arctic Institute
Data sources & attribution

The tracker compiles data from the following primary sources. Each source retains full ownership of its data. This project curates, structures, and contextualises that data — it does not claim ownership of any primary dataset. Where a source's own terms restrict commercial use, that restriction applies to the underlying data here.

UAV Kill Board
USF Pidrakhuyka — Unmanned Systems Forces of Ukraine verified kill data
Strike flights, personnel hit, vehicle and equipment destruction · Updated manually each quarter
Air Defence
Petro Ivaniuk — Ukrainian Air Force daily reports, compiled via Kaggle
Weapons launched, intercepted, weapon type breakdown · Auto-updated daily
Territorial Advance
Black Bird Group / DeepState — Net monthly territorial change in km²
Russian-controlled Ukrainian territory · Updated quarterly
Russian KIA
Mediazona / BBC News — Confirmed deaths cross-checked against Russia's National Probate Registry
Most rigorous publicly available methodology · Always a floor figure
Equipment Losses
Oryx — Photo-confirmed equipment losses with source imagery
Gold standard for equipment loss confirmation · Updated as imagery emerges
Deep Strike Research
@dronbomber (OSINT confirmed strikes) · @mod_russia (intercept claims)
Original corridor analysis uses these as numerator/denominator for penetration rates
Methodology
Inclusion criteria

Events are included where there is at least one credible open-source report — an official Ukrainian military or intelligence statement, verified video evidence, or reporting by two or more independent outlets. Russian acknowledgement is noted but not required.

Damage classification

Sunk = total loss on seabed. Destroyed = total loss confirmed. Damaged = partial damage, target repairable. Shot Down = aerial asset destroyed in flight. Disrupted = operation temporarily affected.

Uncertainty & limitations

Active conflict reporting is inherently incomplete. Russian-side data systematically underreports losses. Ukrainian official figures may overstate. All quantitative analyses carry methodology notes flagging known limitations, sample size constraints, and confounding variables.

How to cite this work

This tracker curates open-source data rather than generating primary data. When citing figures from the tracker, please cite both this resource and the underlying primary source where possible. The primary source is always listed on each entry.

The original analytical work — the corridor analysis, saturation findings, interception rate analyses, and Logistics Lockdown research — is the intellectual contribution of this project and should be attributed accordingly.

Citing the tracker (general)
Mathewson, A. (2024–2026). Ukraine War Unmanned Systems Tracker. King's College London, Department of War Studies. Retrieved [date] from https://unmannedsystemstracker.com
Citing the original analyses
Mathewson, A. (2025). '[Analysis title]'. In Ukraine War Unmanned Systems Tracker. King's College London, Department of War Studies. https://unmannedsystemstracker.com/#analyses
Citing underlying primary data
When citing air defence figures, cite Petro Ivaniuk / Ukrainian Air Force as the primary source. For KIA figures, cite Mediazona / BBC News. For equipment losses, cite Oryx. For territorial data, cite Black Bird Group / DeepState. For UAV kill board data, cite USF Pidrakhuyka. This tracker compiles these sources and should be credited as such, not as a replacement for citing the originators.
For media use
Journalists may cite the tracker and its analyses freely with attribution. For comment, context, or interview requests, contact via the Sources tab. The tracker is available for research collaboration and data partnership — please get in touch to discuss.
Update log
Date
Changes
Jul 2026
USV tab updated with new entries: FSB Patrol Ship Izumrud (sunk), shadow fleet tankers Louise 1 & Banda, and Avero. Air defence chart split into drones, cruise missiles, and ballistic (Iskander/Kinzhal) — separate interception rates for each. Stat strip expanded to 8 cells. About page and citation guidance added.
Jun 2026
Kill board updated with June 2026 data: 977,020 cumulative strike flights. Ukrainian Naval Forces June summary added to USV tab. Cross-tab comparison tool added to intro page. Date range slider added to air defence chart. Explainer page launched covering UAVs, FPVs, USVs and UGVs.
Jul 2026
Kill board updated to July 1 2026 data (since USF creation): 977,020 strike flights, 109,162 personnel hit, 57,802 killed. June 2026 monthly data added to UAV efficiency and lethality charts. Territorial advance updated with May 2026 (−47 km², Russia's second net territorial loss).
May 2026
Kill board updated: 863,911 strike flights. Territorial advance: April 2026 added (94 km²). Russian KIA updated to 217,800+ (Mediazona, May 2026) and ~352,000 statistical estimate (Meduza). UK intelligence estimate (~500,000) added as third KIA figure. Oryx equipment losses updated to 23,556. Logistics Lockdown analysis added to Deep Strike Research tab. Analysis 7 (jet-powered vs piston Shaheds) added to Analyses tab.
Feb–Apr 2026
Major redesign of intro page: fullscreen hero, scroll animations, cross-tab compare chart. Attack frequency section on Air Defence tab rebuilt as interactive Chart.js bar chart with monthly/annual toggle and colour-coded intensity. Analyses tab converted to two-column grid with Interception / Targeting / Strategy filter. All six analyses strengthened with additional methodology caveats following peer review.
Jan 2026
Quarterly data update: UAV kill board, territorial advance (Jan–Dec 2025), Russian losses. Deep Strike Research tab updated with Northern/Baltic corridor correction — route confirmed as overland via Bryansk/Pskov, not Baltic Sea. Inflation factor caveat updated. Seven SEO landing pages confirmed indexed in Google Search Console.
Oct–Dec 2025
Deep Strike Research tab launched (password-protected): corridor analysis covering Southern, Central, Eastern/Volga, Northern/Baltic, Deep East, and Black Sea corridors. Penetration rates, AD attrition effect, and strike range distribution analysis. Operation Spiderweb case study added.
Jul–Sep 2025
Analyses tab launched with six original analyses: weather vs interception rates, saturation thresholds, Shahed decoy hypothesis, weapon mix evolution, geographic dispersion, and Russian vs Ukrainian targeting doctrine. Air defence data auto-update pipeline built (daily via GitHub Actions + Google Apps Script).
2024–early 2025
Initial launch of tracker with USV Strikes, UGV Operations, UAV Kill Board, Air Defence, and Russian Losses tabs. Google Sheets backend with Apps Script API proxy. First SEO sub-pages deployed. CC BY-NC 4.0 license applied.
License
Creative Commons BY-NC 4.0

The original work on this site — code, analytical findings, curation methodology, and written content — is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International. You may share and adapt it for non-commercial purposes with attribution. Commercial use requires explicit written permission.

This license covers the original contribution — the compilation, curation, analysis, and code. It does not and cannot cover the underlying primary data from third-party sources (Ukrainian Air Force figures, Mediazona KIA counts, Oryx photo-confirmed losses), which remain subject to their originators' own terms.

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