Taking out a Russian soldier costs twice as much as hitting the Kremlin's infrastructure, Ukraine says

A Ukrainian soldier prepares the Bliskavka attack drone in Donetsk.

Diego Herrera Carcedo/Anadolu via Getty Images Ukraine said its June data shows it costs about $3,000 to take out a Russian soldier.

Meanwhile, it costs far less to strike an infrastructure facility with a drone, it said.

Kyiv said its data comes from over 230,000 battlefield reports processed a week.

Ukraine has calculated the average cost of its drone strike missions against Russia, and killing or wounding personnel ranks at the top.

The Ukrainian defense ministry said on Monday that, in June, striking a Russian serviceman cost its forces $3,032.

Attacking one piece of Russian equipment cost $2,674, while hitting an infrastructure facility cost $1,487 — less than half the price of striking a soldier, per ministry figures.

The announced cost comes as Ukraine has pursued making its drone attacks more cost-effective over the years.

In 2024, Ukrainian troops said they spent about $20,000 on drones to kill one Russian soldier.

Western estimates say Ukraine kills or wounds about 30,000 Russian soldiers a month.

The ministry said its data was gathered from its Mission Control system, a digital command-and-control program launched in January that analyzes missions carried out by its drone forces.

Kyiv says that the system collects over 230,000 reports each week, with more than 50,000 missions logged so far.

"Mission Control made it possible not only to plan and record missions, but also to assess their economic efficiency," the ministry said on Monday.

"For example, in June, every dollar spent by the Defense Forces on strikes inflicted nearly five dollars' worth of losses on Russia." Meanwhile, the ministry estimates that it costs Russia about $65,000 to sustain one service member.