Ukraine destroys 3,605 Shahed drones out of 4,637 launched by Russia since beginning of war - Ihnat

This was reported by Yurii Ihnat, a spokesman for the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, on the air of the 'United News' telethon, Ukrinform reported.

"As of today, 4,637 Shahed-type drones have been fired at our country. And as many as 3,605 have been destroyed by our Defence Forces - both the Air Force and all the Defence Forces that are now involved in the downing of the Shahed. These are mainly mobile fire groups today, while earlier it was more anti-aircraft missile units that did this work while the "mobiles" were gaining their capabilities. Now, a high percentage of shootdowns are primarily achieved by mobile fire groups and electronic warfare systems," Ihnat said, adding that the drones include both Iranian and Russian-made models.

The spokesperson said that Russians are currently using drones with speeds of 100 km per hour and above. As for the new modifications of Russian drones, Ihnat noted that the enemy will experiment, but for now, it will use internal combustion engines rather than jet engines.

"The enemy will experiment, making some kind of rocket engines. As far as it is rational, we have discussed, that it increases the cost of the UAV and reduces the combat part, it actually becomes a missile when a jet engine is attached to such a UAV. That is why the enemy will continue to use conventional internal combustion engines to deliver UAVs such as Shahed," Ihnat said.

As reported, last night, Ukrainian air defense forces destroyed eight out of 10 Shahed-type attack drones launched by the Russians.