Latest news with #Shahed
Euronews
4 hours ago
- Euronews
At least 10 killed in overnight missile and drone attacks on Ukraine
Among the attacks, the deadliest one was a missile strike on the city of Samar in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, which killed five people and injured at least 25. In the southern port city of Odesa, a married couple were killed by a Russian drone that struck a 21-story residential building. The attack caused a major fire across three floors, injuring at least 14 other people, including three children. Firefighters worked throughout the night to put the fire out. Further deaths were reported across the country, with two people killed in Donetsk Oblast and one killed in the Kherson region. Russian attacks also wounded people in Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, and Sumy oblasts. Ukraine's Air Force reported that on the night of 27-28 June, Russian forces attacked with 23 Shahed drones of various types. Ukraine says they successfully downed 22 of them. The attacks are the latest in a series of intensified Russian air assaults on Ukrainian cities throughout May and June.
Time of India
4 hours ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Are interceptor drones Ukraine's best option against Russia?
Representative Image (AI-generated) Russian airstrikes on cities and towns across Ukraine are rapidly increasing in intensity. Between June 1 and June 20, Moscow launched 3,681 Shahed drones and fake drones, which serve to disorientate the Ukrainian air defense forces. A year ago, the average was at around 600 per month. To counter these attacks, Ukraine is looking for unconventional solutions, such as the use of interceptor drones. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and the ensuing war, Moscow has not only increased the production of drones — it has also modernized them and changed deployment tactics. Current drones can maneuver and fly at high altitudes, which is why they cannot be reached by Ukrainian mobile air defense forces with machine guns. "Lately, the Russian Federation has been sending drones at an altitude of about 2 kilometers," Yuriy Ihnat, spokesperson for the Ukrainian Air Force , told DW. "That's why it's becoming more and more difficult for our mobile units to intercept Shahed drones," he added. "When drones fly lower, you can see them and shoot at them," he said. "First you detect them acoustically, then visually and with the help of thermal imaging cameras and sighting devices. Opening fire on them is only effective once a drone is flying at an altitude of up to 1 kilometre." Experts have expressed alarm at Russia's latest tactics. "Russia is going to bomb our entire country with Shahed drones. They have significantly increased production and will continue to do so. If we don't act immediately, our infrastructure, our production and our defense systems will be destroyed," military and communications expert Serhiy Beskrestnov warned on social media. In his view, Ukraine needs to ramp up mass production of interceptor drones and train drone pilots. Ukraine needs different drones to take on Shaheds: At the front, the use of interceptor drones is anything but new. The Ukrainian military has been using first-person view, or FPV, drones, equipped with cameras that provide the drone pilot with real-time images, for quite some time. These drones are used against various Russian drones, including surveillance and kamikaze models. In order to destroy Shahed drones, which fly faster than many others, however, Ukraine needs special drones. "An Orlan, for example, flies at 100 to 140 kilometers per hour and Shahed drones can reach 200 to 300 kilometers per hour," Serhii Sternenko, head of the Sternenko Community Foundation which provides the Ukrainian military with FPV drones, told DW. In such cases, drones with different characteristics were required for defense. "There are even Ukrainian-made ones. Our troops have already shot down Shaheds several times with such drones," said Sternenko. Ukraine ramps up production of interceptor drones: According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy , his country is focusing on the rapid development of interceptor drones to also defend cities in the hinterland. "In particular, we are working on interceptor drones to enhance protection against Shaheds," Zelenskyy said at the G7 summit in Canada on June 17, pointing out that Ukraine is collaborating with partners to secure more substantial funding. Meanwhile, many Ukrainian manufacturers are already working on such drones. In particular, Wild Hornets, a nonprofit organization that focuses on the production of drones for the Ukrainian armed forces, has repeatedly demonstrated its ability to intercept Shahed and Gerbera drones with its Sting interceptor drone. At the same time, the German startup Tytan Technologies is testing its own interceptor drone with the Ukrainian military, and the Lviv-based company Besomar claims its drone can wait up to two hours in the air for a target. At Kyiv's Dronarium Academy, future drone pilots are trained for aerial combat. They use special simulators for the Ukrainian armed force, and each FPV drone pilot needs about a month to learn to control a drone at high speed. "We are forming new units to cover cities in the hinterland with air defense systems equipped with interceptor drones and we are also training drone pilots," said Air Force spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat. Interceptor drones are cheaper: "If all air defense groups had interceptor drones and we could use them to destroy enemy drones, we would already have something like 'Star Wars'," said Besomar co-founder Roman Shemechko. "That would be effective, as you wouldn't be shooting at clouds anymore but instead pursuing a target to take it out. That's more effective than simply shooting at Shaheds flying at an altitude of 3 kilometers or wasting a missile," he added. According to experts, interceptor drones are also a reasonable alternative given the cost of anti-aircraft missiles. According to the Unmanned Systems Forces, a branch of the Ukrainian army that specializes in drone warfare, the price of an anti-aircraft missile can be as high as $1 million (€85.4 million), while an interceptor drone costs around $5,000.
DW
7 hours ago
- Politics
- DW
Are interceptor drones Ukraine's best option against Russia? – DW – 06/28/2025
Moscow is increasingly attacking Ukrainian cities with Shahed drones flying at high altitude. Could interceptor drones provide a better and cheaper solution than traditional air defense? Russian airstrikes on cities and towns across Ukraine are rapidly increasing in intensity. Between June 1 and June 20, Moscow launched 3,681 Shahed drones and fake drones, which serve to disorientate the Ukrainian air defense forces. A year ago, the average was at around 600 per month. To counter these attacks, Ukraine is looking for unconventional solutions, such as the use of interceptor drones. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and the ensuing war, Moscow has not only increased the production of drones — it has also modernized them and changed deployment tactics. Current drones can maneuver and fly at high altitudes, which is why they cannot be reached by Ukrainian mobile air defense forces with machine guns. "Lately, the Russian Federation has been sending drones at an altitude of about 2 kilometers," Yuriy Ihnat, spokesperson for the Ukrainian Air Force , told DW. "That's why it's becoming more and more difficult for our mobile units to intercept Shahed drones," he added. "When drones fly lower, you can see them and shoot at them," he said. "First you detect them acoustically, then visually and with the help of thermal imaging cameras and sighting devices. Opening fire on them is only effective once a drone is flying at an altitude of up to 1 kilometer." Experts have expressed alarm at Russia's latest tactics. "Russia is going to bomb our entire country with Shahed drones. They have significantly increased production and will continue to do so. If we don't act immediately, our infrastructure, our production and our defense systems will be destroyed," military and communications expert Serhiy Beskrestnov warned on social media. In his view, Ukraine needs to ramp up mass production of interceptor drones and train drone pilots. At the front, the use of interceptor drones is anything but new. The Ukrainian military has been using first-person view, or FPV, drones, equipped with cameras that provide the drone pilot with real-time images, for quite some time. These drones are used against various Russian drones, including surveillance and kamikaze models. In order to destroy Shahed drones, which fly faster than many others, however, Ukraine needs special drones. "An Orlan, for example, flies at 100 to 140 kilometers per hour and Shahed drones can reach 200 to 300 kilometers per hour," Serhii Sternenko, head of the Sternenko Community Foundation which provides the Ukrainian military with FPV drones, told DW. In such cases, drones with different characteristics were required for defense. "There are even Ukrainian-made ones. Our troops have already shot down Shaheds several times with such drones," said Sternenko. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, his country is focusing on the rapid development of interceptor drones to also defend cities in the hinterland. "In particular, we are working on interceptor drones to enhance protection against Shaheds," Zelenskyy said at the G7 summit in Canada on June 17, pointing out that Ukraine is collaborating with partners to secure more substantial funding. Meanwhile, many Ukrainian manufacturers are already working on such drones. In particular, Wild Hornets, a nonprofit organization that focuses on the production of drones for the Ukrainian armed forces, has repeatedly demonstrated its ability to intercept Shahed and Gerbera drones with its Sting interceptor drone. At the same time, the German startup Tytan Technologies is testing its own interceptor drone with the Ukrainian military, and the Lviv-based company Besomar claims its drone can wait up to two hours in the air for a target. At Kyiv's Dronarium Academy, future drone pilots are trained for aerial combat. They use special simulators for the Ukrainian armed force, and each FPV drone pilot needs about a month to learn to control a drone at high speed. "We are forming new units to cover cities in the hinterland with air defense systems equipped with interceptor drones and we are also training drone pilots," said Air Force spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat. "If all air defense groups had interceptor drones and we could use them to destroy enemy drones, we would already have something like 'Star Wars'," said Besomar co-founder Roman Shemechko. "That would be effective, as you wouldn't be shooting at clouds anymore but instead pursuing a target to take it out. That's more effective than simply shooting at Shaheds flying at an altitude of 3 kilometers or wasting a missile," he added. According to experts, interceptor drones are also a reasonable alternative given the cost of anti-aircraft missiles. According to the Unmanned Systems Forces, a branch of the Ukrainian army that specializes in drone warfare, the price of an anti-aircraft missile can be as high as $1 million (€85.4 million), while an interceptor drone costs around $5,000.
Euronews
21 hours ago
- Politics
- Euronews
Putin says Moscow is ready for new peace talks with Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Moscow is ready for a fresh round of direct peace talks with Ukraine, even as both warring countries trade long-range drone attacks. Speaking to reporters in Minsk, Putin said Russian and Ukrainian officials are discussing the timing of a potential new meeting. The Russian leader said that the terms of a potential ceasefire, which the Kremlin has so far rejected, are expected to be on the agenda. The war shows no signs of abating, as US-led international peace efforts have so far produced no breakthrough. Two recent rounds of talks between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul were brief and yielded no progress on a peace deal. Ukraine wants the next step in peace talks to be a meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Putin, Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov said. However, the suggestion appears likely to be a non-starter, given Putin's recent comments. The Russian leader has said a summit meeting should take place only after the main provisions of a peace deal have been agreed, something that could take months or years. Putin has also repeated his claim that Zelenskyy lost his legitimacy after his presidential term expired last year, an allegation rejected by Kyiv and its allies. Russia and Ukraine trade long-range drone attacks Meanwhile, Russian forces launched 363 Shahed and decoy drones as well as eight missiles at Ukraine overnight, the Ukrainian air force said on Friday, claiming that air defences stopped all but four of the drones and downed six cruise missiles. Russia's Defence Ministry said 39 Ukrainian drones were downed in several regions overnight, including 19 over the Rostov region and 13 over the Volgograd region. Both regions lie east of Ukraine. Long-range drone strikes have been a hallmark of the war, now in its fourth year. The race by both sides to develop increasingly sophisticated and deadlier drones has turned the war into a testing ground for new weaponry Ukrainian drones have pulled off some stunning feats. At the start of June, nearly a third of Moscow's strategic bomber fleet was destroyed or damaged in a covert Ukrainian operation using cheaply made drones snuck into Russian territory. According to the Ukrainian air force, around 359 incoming drones were either intercepted or electronically jammed. Ukraine halts Russian advance in Sumy On Thursday, Ukraine's top military commander, General Oleksandr Syrskyi, claimed Ukrainian forces halted Russia's recent advance into the north-eastern Sumy region and stabilised the front line near the Russian border. General Syrskyi said the successful defence in Sumy has prevented Russia from redeploying around 50,000 troops, including elite airborne and marine brigades, to other parts of the front line. Ukraine is employing new countermeasures against Russia's escalation of combined missile and drone attacks, officials say. Instead of relying on ground-based mobile teams to shoot down Shaheds, Ukraine is deploying interceptor drones it has developed. Moscow has not yet commented on his claim. Before this, Russian forces had made slow, costly advances along parts of the roughly 1,000-kilometre front line, shelling the Sumy region in several attacks that killed civilians and destroyed buildings. Ukrainian authorities say their outnumbered forces relied heavily on drones to hold back Russian troops, just as US-led international efforts to broker a ceasefire went on. Those months-long talks have failed, with the only tangible result being the agreement to carry out a series of prisoner-of-war exchanges.
Los Angeles Times
a day ago
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Russia, Ukraine trade long-range drone attacks as Putin says Moscow ready for peace talks
KYIV, Ukraine — Russia and Ukraine exchanged more long-range drone attacks that have become a staple of the more than three-year war, officials said Friday, as Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow is ready for a fresh round of direct peace talks in Istanbul. Russian and Ukrainian officials are discussing the timing of a potential new meeting, Putin said. Speaking to reporters during a visit to Belarus, he said that the terms of a potential ceasefire, which the Kremlin has so far effectively rejected, are expected to be on the agenda. The war shows no signs of abating as U.S.-led international peace efforts have so far produced no breakthrough. Two recent rounds of talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul were brief and yielded no progress on reaching a settlement. Ukraine wants the next step in peace talks to be a meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Putin, Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said. The suggestion is likely a nonstarter, given Putin's recent comments. The Russian leader has said a summit meeting should take place only after the main provisions of a peace deal have been agreed, and that could take months or years. Putin has also repeated his claim that Zelensky lost his legitimacy after his presidential term expired last year — an allegation rejected by Kyiv and its allies. Meanwhile, Russian forces launched 363 Shahed and decoy drones as well as eight missiles at Ukraine overnight, the Ukrainian air force said Friday, claiming that air defenses stopped all but four of the drones and downed six cruise missiles. Russia's Defense Ministry said 39 Ukrainian drones were downed in several regions overnight, including 19 over the Rostov region and 13 over the Volgograd region. Both regions lie east of Ukraine. Long-range drone strikes have been a hallmark of the war, now in its fourth year. The race by both sides to develop increasingly sophisticated and deadlier drones has turned the war into a testing ground for new weaponry. Ukrainian drones have pulled off some stunning feats. At the start of June, nearly a third of Moscow's strategic bomber fleet was destroyed or damaged in a covert Ukrainian operation using cheaply made drones sneaked into Russian territory. The Ukrainian air force said that 359 incoming drones were either intercepted or electronically jammed. Ukraine is employing new countermeasures against Russia's escalation of combined missile and drone attacks, officials say. Instead of relying on ground-based mobile teams to shoot down Shaheds, Ukraine is deploying interceptor drones it has developed. The Ukrainian attack forced three Russian airports to briefly suspend flights, officials said. The authorities also briefly closed the Crimean Bridge overnight as drones targeted Crimea. Neither Russia nor Ukraine reported any major damage or casualties in the attacks. Russia manufactures Shahed drones based on an original Iranian model, churning out thousands of them at a plant in the Tatarstan region. It has upgraded the Shaheds with its own innovations, including bigger warheads. They are known as suicide drones because they nosedive into targets and explode on impact, like a missile. The incessant buzzing of the propeller-driven Shahed drones is unnerving for anyone under its flight path because no one on the ground knows exactly when or where the weapon will hit. Being outgunned and outnumbered in the war against its bigger neighbor, Ukraine also has developed its own cutting-edge drone technology, including long-range sea drones, and has trained thousands of drone pilots. Smaller, short-range drones are used by both sides on the battlefield and in areas close to the roughly 620-mile front line. Those drones, fitted with onboard cameras that give their operators a real-time view of possible targets, have also struck civilian areas. The U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine said in a report published Thursday that short-range drone attacks killed at least 395 civilians and injured 2,635 between the start of the war and last April. Almost 90% of the attacks were by the Russian armed forces, it reported. The strikes not only spread fear among civilians but also severely disrupt daily life by restricting movement and limiting access to food and medical services, the report said. Novikov writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Samya Kullab in Kyiv, Ukraine, contributed to this report.
