According to Kyiv’s minister in charge of technology, Ukraine plans to develop combat drones to attack Russian aerial weapons prone to exploding.
Mykhailo Fedorov, in charge of digital transformation, said that Russia’s war in Ukraine was the first big war of the internet age. He said that the war had changed because of drones and satellite internet systems like Elon Musk’s Starlink.
Ukraine has bought small drones like the Fly Eye, which can gather information, watch a battlefield, and do reconnaissance.
Mr. Fedorov said, “Now that we have a lot of reconnaissance drones, the next step is to strike drones.”
“These are both drones that explode and can fly up to 3–10 km and hit targets.”
He said, “There will be more missions using strike drones,” but he didn’t say more. “There, we talk about the drones, UAVs, and UAVs we are making in Ukraine. It will be the next step in making things better, “he said.
Mr. Fedorov said that Ukraine is researching and making drones that could fight and shoot down other drones.
“I can already say that the drone situation will change a lot in February or March,” he said.
Russia has recently used Iranian-made Shahed drones for its airstrikes in Ukrainian territory and rocket, cruise missile, and artillery attacks.
Russian officials have said in the past few weeks that Ukrainian drones have attacked several of their military bases. On Monday, they said that Russian forces shot down a drone coming close to the Engels airbase, which is more than 600 kilometers (370 miles) from the Ukrainian border.
The Russian military said the debris killed three soldiers but did not damage any planes. The base is home to Tu-95 and Tu-160 strategic bombers that can carry nuclear weapons and have been used to attack Ukraine.
Ukrainian authorities have never formally acknowledged carrying out such drone strikes, but they have alluded to how Russia might expect retaliation for its war in Ukraine, including within Russian territory.