Ukraine moves to a new stage in developing interceptor drones — What will change

Russian forces have intensified strikes on civilian infrastructure and populations, as they fail to achieve success on the frontline.

Commander of the 429th Separate Unmanned Systems Regiment "Achilles" Yurii Fedorenko shared this during a broadcast on 24Kanal.

"The military is part of society tasked with winning battles. But it is always the people who win the war. The enemy understands well that if the people abandon the state, our defense capabilities weaken. Therefore, the enemy will increase its efforts to strike rear cities," Fedorenko explained.

To counter such attacks, the commander emphasized that Ukraine must urgently increase the number of interceptor drones and train additional personnel to operate them.

"Systems capable of shooting down "Shaheds" based on their technical characteristics already exist. In particular, they are in service with the "Achilles" unit. And with each day, we are shooting down more. The next step is to ensure that the majority of military targets, specifically "Shahed"-type drones, are shot down over Ukrainian fields, not over civilian cities — except for those near the Russian border," added the commander of the 429th Separate Unmanned Systems Regiment "Achilles."

Fedorenko also says that Russia is attempting to bypass Ukrainian air defenses, including by testing so-called jet-powered "Shaheds."

"We must overcome the challenge that will emerge by the new year… They are trying to develop a jet-powered "Shahed" and have already demonstrated tests of this system. What must we do? Develop a jet-powered interceptor. Is Ukraine’s defense industry working on this? Yes. But we need to have done this yesterday," the military official stressed.