Ukraine is urgently trying to develop interceptors capable of countering a new generation of Russian jet-powered drones that have wreaked havoc across the country in recent months.
Along with the Kremlin’s ballistic weapons and a new type of cruise missile, the jet-drones have caused massive damage in and around the capital, Kyiv.
They have also been used to target warehouses, gas stations, postal facilities and factories in what is becoming a much broader war in terms of targets.
The jet-powered Shahed drones – known as the Geran-4 and Geran-5 – are more difficult to intercept because of their speed and number. They are three times faster than the original Shaheds that Russia procured from Iran.
“Drone attacks are constant, with many jet-powered Shaheds,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday. Almost 1,500 drones of all types were fired at Ukraine over the previous four days, more than half of them jet-powered, he said.
