Shahed drones easy to counter, Ukraine must fix its response — military analyst

Military analyst Mykhailo Samus stated this in an interview with Espreso journalist Marta Oliiarnyk.

“For example, for some reason, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry has not paid attention to ordering those interceptors, interceptor drones to destroy the Shaheds. I might be mistaken, but I think there are certain problems here. There should be concentrated orders from the Defense Ministry, because currently the procurement of interceptor drones is falling on the shoulders of volunteers,” he said.

In the analyst's opinion, this issue needs to be fixed.

“Shaheds can be shot down; they are not ballistic missiles. They are actually quite easy to counter if you have enough appropriate tools. We have mobile groups, but they are obviously no longer coping with such a number of drones, because Russia has now changed its tactics—striking one city in a concentrated manner. For example, the Russians choose Kyiv and flood it with drones, sometimes adding missiles as well,” Samus added.

He also noted that after the Spider's Web special operation conducted by the SBU in Russia, they have little strategic aviation left, and its use may be rare. The same goes for Kalibr missiles—in the Black Sea, they cannot operate freely, because Ukraine keeps them in the eastern part of the Black Sea, not allowing them into the western part.

“That’s why I think we ourselves need to focus more now. The Americans, in reality, can’t help us much here. We won’t be shooting down Shaheds with Patriots, and they are currently the main problem. If we buy a few more Patriot systems, and if we have the opportunity to buy missiles for them from the United States with European money, then we’ll be able to handle the ballistic missiles. 

But we need to solve the issue with the Shaheds, because this is really starting to threaten, I think, both the combat capability of the Armed Forces and, after all, the safety of the civilian population and infrastructure. Russia is striking transport infrastructure and logistics, which is very important for our economy and, of course, for supplying the front,” Samus concluded.