Russia has changed its approach to air attacks on Ukraine, using massive strikes on a single target to ensure its destruction and at the same time exhaust the air defense system. This was stated by People's Deputy Roman Kostenko, Secretary of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security, on the air of the Espresso TV channel.
According to him, since the start of the full-scale war, Russia has already used more than 7,000 missiles and more than 50,000 Shahed kamikaze drones against Ukrainian cities and facilities. There was no such number even during World War II, and no air defense system is designed for such intensive use of weapons.
Kostenko emphasized that the modern air defense system, which was created during the Cold War, is too expensive to combat cheap drones.
“Patriot, S-300 or Buk are millions of dollars for one launch. And the Shahed costs tens of thousands. The economy will not withstand this,” the deputy said.
In his opinion, Ukraine should focus on developing and scaling up cheaper countermeasures, in particular interceptor drones. They are much more effective in terms of price/performance and can be used more rationally to shoot down enemy drones.
Kostenko also added that the Russians have already learned to launch up to 500 drones per day, although such attacks do not occur every day, because Russia does not have enough resources. Most often, intensive shelling occurs once every 3-4 days. Often, fake drones are added to the strikes to confuse Ukrainian air defenses.
Another priority, according to the deputy, is the creation of a continuous radar field and an automated threat response system.
“We need to focus on establishing mass production of anti-drone equipment. We must shoot down more and more ‘shaheeds’ every day,” he stressed.
