Ukraine needs proactive drone defense, including strikes inside Russia — General Romanenko

General Ihor Romanenko, founder of the Charitable Foundation Let's Close the Sky of Ukraine, Deputy Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' General Staff (2006-2010), told Espreso.

"As for countering massive attacks by Russian UAVs, we need to act in a wide range of ways to affect the means of air attack, as well as to hit the enterprises where they are produced. There should be preemptive actions — strikes to damage or destroy the production of these weapons and their storage facilities. Accordingly, we need to work on tools. We have long-range drones, Neptunes with a range of 1,000 kilometers, and the Sapsan tactical missile system is being finalized and scaled up. In addition, there are sabotage activities that have already been demonstrated by our special forces. That is, we need to use all the tools we have," commented Ihor Romanenko.

According to him, if Russian drones have been manufactured and used by the Russian army to strike Ukraine, then our air and missile defense is already working here. In countering the Shaheds, Ukraine needs to focus on the appropriate means — these are not long-range SAMs, but short-range work, that is, mobile groups, electronic warfare.

"We see that Russia's use of Shaheds is increasing, and in the last massive attack there were more than 440 drones of various types, including about 280 Shaheds. And the number of Ukrainian mobile groups has decreased because the Air Force Command was forced to send them to the ground forces. 

That is why the government decided on June 11 to resettle the defense at the level of voluntary formations of territorial communities — air defense groups. There are also examples of private aviation being used to shoot down Shaheds with pump-action rifles. Accordingly, there are opportunities that require active action at the grassroots level. We need to get involved in this work and increase the effectiveness of air defense in territorial communities," the general said.

• On June 11, Ukraine approved a plan to form volunteer air defense groups to counter 'kamikaze' drones and other aerial threats.
• At a meeting on June 11, the Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers amended the procedure for purchasing domestic drones and tactical electronic warfare equipment.