Fighting Russian drones and missiles in northern Ukraine: Efficiency of mobile groups is high, says Nayev

This was reported by the Joint Forces Command of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. 

According to Nayev, since the Russian invaders are targeting Ukrainian cities and villages with missiles of various systems and drones, Ukraine's air defense system is actively operating. However, the sky is guarded "not only by well-known anti-aircraft missile systems," but also by a large number of mobile air defense fire groups.

Photo: Reuters

"Small air defense systems impress with their diversity. The MR-2 Viktor mobile air defense system is popular among air defense units. Systems with the German MG-3 machine gun and the American Browning M2 heavy machine gun are also popular. Nevertheless, Ukrainian soldiers do not shy away from using old Soviet DShKM and Maxim machine guns in mobile fire groups," said the commander of the Operational Command North. 

Nayev noted that from a technological point of view, Western systems are better than Soviet ones, but the Ukrainian military uses all possible means to neutralize the enemy both in the sky and on the ground.

"If we talk about the entire air defense system, we would certainly like to receive even more technologically advanced Western models from our partners. But at the moment, we are taking all measures, including organizational ones, to increase the effectiveness of what we have," Nayev emphasized.

He stressed that success in shooting down Russian targets depends not only on the skills of the crew but also on the joint work of all mobile fire groups, as it is necessary to create a sufficient crossfire density.

"The hits I observed were accurate. The targets were hit. The efficiency of our mobile groups is high. But to make sure that every Russian target in the Ukrainian sky is shot down, we are constantly working to improve their training," the commander added. 

Nayev also said that mobile firing groups performing air defense tasks in the Northern Operational Zone have been recently trained.

"The smallest unmanned aerial vehicle was used to test their readiness. The military learned to detect, track and destroy enemy targets in the air. Both weapons provided by partner countries and Soviet-style weapons were used during the exercises," he added. 

• Earlier, Yuriy Ihnat, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force Command, said that the creation of mobile fire groups to counter Russian UAVs is a necessary step in protecting critical infrastructure. Their number will be increased, as it is difficult to shoot down the Shahed drones and the Armed Forces lack air defense capabilities.