Ukraine's air defenses need modernization to counter Russian drones — Ukrainian military

Ukrainian Armed Forces aerial reconnaissance officer Ihor Lutsenko said this on Espreso TV.

“According to Ukraine's Defense Intelligence, Russia is currently capable of producing up to 170 Shahed-type drones per day. Such a production volume is sufficient to cause serious energy supply problems in a single region of Ukraine.

We have already built an air defense system, but it needs modernization. In particular, mobile fire groups are no longer something that can really save us. As the quantity and quality of Russian drones increase, we also need to defend ourselves with drones—reinforcing them with other means. But we should have started creating 'anti-Shaheds' three years ago,” Lutsenko noted.

The aerial reconnaissance officer recalled that in September 2022, Russia first used Shaheds en masse against Ukraine.

“So, it’s been almost three years since we should have started development, and by now we should have already completed the creation of effective countermeasures against these drones. It’s obvious there will be even more of them, and they will become faster, more accurate, and 'smarter'—and therefore even more dangerous for us. That’s why we need to implement asymmetric drone solutions,” Lutsenko emphasized.

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported that Russia is planning attacks against Ukraine’s nuclear energy sector, which may go less noticed by the world due to the focus on the situation in the Middle East.