Why air defense shoot down "Shaheds" and missiles over cities: Zhdanov clearly explained

Ukrainian Air Defense Forces are forced to shoot down "Shaheds" and missiles over cities. Due to this, debris from them falls on the city. 

Military expert Oleh Zhdanov, in a comment for TSN.ua website, clearly explained why it is currently impossible to do this in the suburbs to protect residents, and what is needed to better protect cities.

According to him, tactical means of close range combat UAVs most effectively.

"For example, if we take the “Gepard”, it has a four-kilometer radius to the right and a four-kilometer radius to the left - eight kilometers in total. For maximum effectiveness, it needs to be overlapped by 30% with a neighboring “Gepard". That means placing one where another one is. It will no longer be eight kilometers between “Gepards”, but about six. And now imagine Odesa, Dnipro or Kyiv. To create a solid ring at a distance of 10-15 kilometers from the city, what is the radius? And how many such systems are needed to make this tight ring? This is an incredible amount. That's the problem," the military expert explained.

"Currently, we cannot establish such a circular and deeply layered defense with various types of systems around our cities. Oleh Zhdanov says the only way to strengthen the defense of Ukrainian cities against Russian “Shaheds” is to request air defense systems from our partners.

"Today, the quantity of air defense systems allows us to provide only protection of objects. This means that a “Gepard” is placed at the object, and it tries to shoot down everything flying towards it within a radius of four kilometers. Consequently, the debris continues to fly. Although they are already diverted from their course and partially deviated from the target point, they are still flying towards that target. Therefore, they fall either directly onto the object or nearby. That's why we are forced to shoot them down precisely over cities," Oleh Zhdanov explained.

According to him, in Ukraine, the fight against «Shaheds” is conducted using everything possible, starting from mounted machine guns - these are mobile groups with searchlights.

"Finally, when the situation becomes critical and “Shaheds” break through, then we resort to even such means as IRIS-T or NASAMS. We are forced to expend expensive missiles to prevent hits on objects. If there are any. Otherwise, we use everything we have," the military expert explained.

Read also:

• What weapons for Ukraine were agreed upon at “Ramstein”: Umerov reported

• Lavrov made a statement about "diplomatic" negotiations between Ukraine and Russia

• Russia deliberately destroys a city in Zaporizhzhia region: how locals survive and what they say (photos, videos)

• Podolyak announced when to expect a turning point in the war and what is needed for this

• Massive missile attack on Ukraine: everything that is known about the hits, destruction and wounded (photos)