Russia has begun fitting mock-up air-to-air missiles to its Shahed drones to confuse Ukrainian defenses, a Kyiv military adviser has said.
“The enemy has begun installing mock-ups of R-60 missiles on Shahed drones,” said Serhii “Flash” Beskrestnov, an adviser to Ukraine’s defense minister.
“The aim is to intimidate our aviation and draw the attention of interceptor units.”
Using decoy drones in order to confuse Ukraine’s multi-layered anti-drone shield has become a regular tactic in Russian attacks.
Faced with an incoming drone swarm, Kyiv is often forced to select and prioritize targets.
This makes identification and assessment of incoming threats a crucial part of the defense operation.
“Army aviation knows how to respond to such things,” Beskrestnov added.
“We have many interceptor units across different branches and agencies, and of course everyone will try to destroy such an ‘important’ target,” he said.
Shahed drones have become Russia’s go-to weapon for long-range strikes on Ukraine.
Based on an Iranian design, the drone also lends itself to military experimentation.
The first Shahed equipped with an R-60 air-to-air missile was spotted in late 2025.
The newer use of mock-ups suggests an effort to conserve scarce weapons while complicating the Ukrainian response, forcing defenders to waste resources on decoys.
Beskrestnov said it was now important to find ways to distinguish drones carrying fake missiles from those posing a real threat.
“We need to consider how to distinguish Shahed drones equipped with fake missiles,” he said.