Data sources: Telegram channels tracking Shahed drones and missiles
Where Alarm Maps gets its data: which Telegram monitoring channels we read, and how we turn their posts into the minutes left until each target arrives.
Monitoring channels say where a target is and where it is heading. How many minutes are left until it arrives they almost never say — that is what we compute. Alarm Maps reads 8 open Telegram channels, merges the posts about the same drone or missile into one target and shows the time to arrival for each, counting down every second. The second source is the official air raid alerts, which shade the regions and districts under an alert right now. We have no radars of our own: if nobody posted about a target, it is not on the map.
The Telegram monitoring channels we read
This is exactly the list the map works with now: a new channel appears here with the same update of the service. The channels belong to their authors; we only read their public posts. Most of them post in Ukrainian.
Official source
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@kpszsuOfficialAll of Ukraine
The Ukrainian Air Force. Official reports on where drones and missiles are heading, nationwide.
Nationwide monitoring
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All of Ukraine
A roundup of every region every few minutes: where the targets are and where they are heading.
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All of Ukraine
Aviation Control: drone launches from airfields, strategic bomber take-offs, missiles and ballistic threats.
Regional monitors
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Kyiv and Kyiv region
An air defence monitor: follows drones and missiles over the capital and the region district by district.
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Mykolaiv and the region
The Mykolaiv monitor: drones and missiles over the city and on approach from the sea.
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Kharkiv region
A local monitor: follows each drone from village to village, step by step.
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Chernihiv and Kyiv regions
The north: entries from Russia's Bryansk region and drones crossing Chernihiv region towards Kyiv.
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Poltava region
A local radar: position and course of drones over the region, Kremenchuk included.
Official air raid alerts
The alert status of every region and district comes from the official air raid alert API, UkraineAlarm, refreshed every minute. This is not Telegram: the alerts shade regions and districts on the map but never create target markers. When the alert in a district ends, the targets that stood there turn grey.
How posts become a time to arrival
- We read the post as soon as it is published. The service is subscribed to the channels and receives new posts the moment they appear — from a post to a marker on the map takes seconds.
- We read the text. An AI model works out the threat type, where the target is now, where it is heading and how many there are. Templated posts (roundups, “all clear”) are read by rules, without the model.
- We find the place in a gazetteer of more than 33,000 Ukrainian settlements, keeping apart villages with the same name in different regions.
- We merge posts into one target. Different channels often post about the same drone. If the object could have flown from one point to the other in that time and in that direction, it is one target, not two.
- We compute the time to arrival: the distance from the last known place to the destination, divided by the speed of that threat type. Between posts the marker moves by dead reckoning and the countdown ticks every second; each new post corrects it.
The speeds we time targets with
| Threat type | Speed | 100 km in |
|---|---|---|
| Shahed drones (Shahed-136/131) | 140 km/h | ≈ 43 min |
| Jet-powered Shahed drones (Shahed-238) | 340 km/h | ≈ 18 min |
| Decoy drones (Gerbera, Parodiya) | 140 km/h | ≈ 43 min |
| Banderol loitering munition (S8000) | 450 km/h | ≈ 13 min |
| Cruise missiles (Kh-101, Kalibr)Kh-101 · Kalibr | 650 km/h | ≈ 9 min |
| Supersonic missiles (sea-launched Oniks, Kh-22)Oniks · Kh-22 and Kh-32 | 2 750 km/h | ≈ 2 min |
| Ballistic missiles (Iskander-M, KN-23) | 8 000 km/h | ≈ 45 s |
| Aeroballistic missiles (Kinzhal) | 13 000 km/h | ≈ 28 s |
| Quasi-ballistic missiles (Zircon, Oniks-M) | 5 000 km/h | ≈ 1 min |
What each type is and how long it takes to fly 100, 300 and 700 km — in the guide «Threat types».
For drones the speeds are measured on real tracks and impacts, not taken from reference books: a jet-powered Shahed flies its route noticeably slower than its rated speed. When a channel does not say whether a drone is a regular or a jet one, we show a range, such as “~7–15 min”. For ballistic missiles the time is counted in seconds, so the alert itself is what matters.
The time to arrival is an estimate, not a radar measurement: drones zigzag, and a channel posts with its own delay. More in the FAQ; every target in the air right now is listed on the tracker page.
Know a channel for your region?
Send us the link through the contact page. We test every channel on a week of real posts: whether it is fast, names exact places and does not just repeat the others.
Questions about the sources
Is this an official alert source?
No. One of the sources is the official Air Force channel, but the map as a whole is unofficial: it combines the posts of several channels and estimates the movement between them. It does not replace sirens or the official «Povitriana tryvoha» (Air Alert) app.
How is the map different from reading the channels yourself?
A channel says “a Shahed over X heading for Y”. The map merges the posts of every channel into one target, shows it moving between posts and computes how many minutes are left until Y. No need to follow eight channels at once and work out distances in your head during an alert.
How accurate is the time to arrival?
It is a guide. It is most accurate for targets flying straight at their destination; drones that zigzag or circle over a city arrive later than computed. The longer the channels are silent about a target, the less certain the countdown — the marker then fades.
Why don't you read every monitoring channel?
Most channels repeat each other, and every extra channel is one more source of errors and duplicate targets. We add a channel when it gives something the others do not: its own region, an earlier signal or more exact places.
We are not an alert service. The map shows what open channels posted, with their delays and mistakes. For an alert in your city, follow the official signal.
Updated .