BUSINESS INSIDER
Russia has enough Iranian-made suicide drones to keep up attacks on Ukraine every day, a Ukrainian Air Force official warned.
Air Force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat said Russian forces have more than enough supply of Shahed-136 drones to keep up the attack, Ukrainian news outlet NV reported.
“Shaheds are now launched so often that it is not clear whether they are (supposed to be) detecting or depleting our air defense,” Ihnat said, according to NV. “It’s all in one: both detecting and, surely, depleting.”
Russia has been using the unmanned loitering munitions to relentlessly bombard Ukrainian cities and targets in recent weeks.
The explosive drones have a range of 1,250 miles and are packed with explosives, Insider previously reported. The relatively small drones can then stay flying above their targets, lingering for the correct moment to strike, before crashing down and exploding on impact like a traditional missile.
Ukrainian defense minister Volodymyr Havrylov told Reuters that despite the barrage of drone and missile attacks, Kyiv’s forces were still ready to start their counterattack against Russian troops occupying the eastern part of the country.
Havrylov said Russia was trying to distract Ukraine from its planned counteroffensive, but said the missile attacks were a “last strategic resort,” Reuters reported.
Havrylov also told reporters that Ukraine’s air defense systems were “more than 90 percent effective” at stopping the attacks, according to Reuters.
