Ukraine is testing a new locally developed weapon designed to intercept drones, with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy saying the system recorded a successful hit overnight.
“Another development is undergoing testing. It’s a Ukrainian development and it scored a hit, the ‘Shahed’ was destroyed,” Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address on Tuesday, referring to the Iranian-designed drones frequently used by Russian forces.
He said some technical aspects of the new weapon still needed to be refined, while development work by other teams was also continuing.
Ukraine’s military said its forces had intercepted 187 airborne targets overnight.
Zelenskiy said 93% of all Russian drones launched during the overnight attacks had been intercepted.
“That is significant. But, of course, more is needed,” he said.
Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Kyiv has rapidly expanded its development of anti-drone technology.
Ukraine has increasingly focused on interceptor drones as a potentially more efficient and cost-effective way of countering Russian unmanned aircraft.
The country has also shared its anti-drone expertise with other nations, including countries in the Middle East that have faced attacks involving Iranian drones.
However, Ukrainian forces have continued to face greater difficulties intercepting Russian ballistic missiles and have called on Western allies to provide additional air-defence interceptors.
Kyiv is also pushing for the accelerated development of a European-designed air defence system known as Freyja.
