KHARKIV REGION, Ukraine, April 29 (Reuters) – In a foggy field in northeast Ukraine, four soldiers stare at red and yellow dots on a screen in the back of a van, armed with interceptor drones and energy drinks to get through the night.
These pilots, and about a thousand other crews like them, are on the frontlines of Ukraine’s drive to knock one of Russia’s most potent weapons out of the war: the Shahed drone.
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“Even if you use 50 drones to shoot down one Shahed, it’s worth it,” said Borys, the commander of the crew, who was a TV news producer before the war upended his life. “One Shahed can fly in and destroy something far more valuable.”
The pioneering low-cost, long-range attack drones designed by Iran have indeed become the scourge of Ukraine, with Russia unleashing thousands of them on its enemy every month. Moscow has adapted the design of the Shahed, which it calls the Geran, to include improved navigation and engines as well as larger warheads.
While most Shaheds and other long-range drones are downed by Ukraine, those that get through – more than 1,000 out of about 6,500 launched last month, according to Ukrainian air force data – have wrought havoc on military infrastructure, cities and energy facilities, depriving millions of people of heating and lighting.
In February, new Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov announced a drive to reach a target of neutralizing 95% of all Shaheds and other long-range attack drones launched by Russia.
The air force data, compiled by Come Back Alive, a Ukrainian military charity, shows the interception rate that month was just over 85%. With Russia’s land campaign having slowed to a crawl, Fedorov said tightening air defences could be vital to Ukraine’s ability to survive another year of war.
According to Reuters interviews with a dozen Ukrainian officials, manufacturers and soldiers involved in the drive, the campaign is yielding gradual results. Fedorov himself said this month that the interception rate had gone up to 90%.
Reuters couldn’t independently verify the data on drone launches and interceptions. The Russian defence ministry didn’t respond to a request for comment for this article.
Moscow has repeatedly denied targeting civilians and said the purpose of its air assaults is to degrade Ukraine’s military. Ukraine has also fired thousands of long-range drones, also known as unmanned aerial vehicles, at targets in Russia including energy facilities.
The Ukrainians involved in the interception drive cautioned, however, that getting a nationwide system involving thousands of air defence teams up to speed would take months and that gains could prove short-lived in the technological race with Russia.
The first interceptor to destroy a Shahed in early 2025, for example, became ineffective after four months because the Russians realised they could outrun it by increasing the Shahed’s speed from 170 km per hour to more than 200 kph, according to Taras Tymochko, a specialist in the technology at Come Back Alive.
As a consequence, interceptors – which must travel faster than targets to catch them – have had to be upgraded to fly at up to 300 kph, said Tymochko.
Now, about 15-20% of the Shaheds sent by Russia are powered by jet engines, rather than the usual propeller ones, allowing them to hit speeds of 400 kph, according to Yuriy Cherevashenko, a senior commander in Ukraine’s air force.
Fedorov told Reuters that the solution to this problem lay in jet-powered interceptor drones, which he said Ukrainian manufacturers were currently developing.
