Ukrainian Air Force forecasts increased drone attacks and reduced missile strikes on Ukraine

Yuriy Ihnat, a spokesman for the Air Force Command, shared the information on Radio Liberty.

In his opinion, Russia will not have many missiles in its arsenal, as their production is more expensive than the production of “kamikaze” drones.

"Indeed, September was a record month for the number of attack UAVs - the Shahed type. The fact that Russia will increase their production and use them against Ukraine - we have been talking about this for several months. So these are obvious steps. Because Russia will not have many missiles. Of its own production, I mean. Because we saw how many they used last year and how many precision long-range weapons they have now. Therefore, they will probably use fewer missiles. Because there are higher priority targets for missiles. A missile is a much more powerful weapon than a ‘kamikaze’ drone, and a much more expensive weapon. It takes much longer to manufacture it than drones," Ihnat said.

According to him, Iran continues to supply drones to Russia. At the same time, Russia is likely to manufacture them on its territory. The spokesman emphasized that further support from the West to Ukraine is needed for effective air defense.

"Air defense is doing its best and will continue to do its best. It is not a question of our endurance, but of assistance. We will have to have something to do it with. We are probably almost 100% dependent on Western support. Because we cannot produce surface-to-air missiles today. We have aircraft missiles for fighter jets. But I've already said that fighter jets are not designed to shoot down such targets, although they do their best. That's why we will need more missiles for the systems that Ukraine currently has. If the enemy increases the intensity of attacks with cruise missiles and drones. As well as short-range air defense. We would need more Gepards (German anti-aircraft self-propelled artillery systems - ed.)," Ihnat summarized.

• On the night of Sunday, October 1, the Ukrainian Air Force, together with air defense, destroyed 16 out of 30 Russian-launched Shahed drones in the skies over Ukraine