“I am convinced that we will start purchases (of weapons) from Ukrainian manufacturers with foreign funds” soon.
KYIV, Ukraine – Ukraine has delivered three times more drones to its armed forces so far this year than in the whole of 2023, a top commander said, as Ukrainian forces accelerate the use of unmanned craft in the war against Russia.
“This process continues and will only grow,” said Col. Vadym Sukharevskyi, the commander of Ukraine’s drone forces.
Ukraine, which has been fighting off a full-scale Russian invasion for nearly 26 months, is seeking to ramp up its domestic arms manufacturing and use of innovative technologies to compete against its much larger and wealthier enemy.
He was speaking at an exhibition on Saturday showcasing Ukrainian-made unmanned vehicles for land, sea and air, electronic warfare systems and armored vehicles.
Ninety-nine percent of drones used by the Ukrainian military are produced domestically, Sukharevskyi said.
“It’s no secret that our resource limitations in artillery are compensated by drones, such as FPVs (first-person view) and (bomber) drop drones,” he told reporters, referencing an imbalance of artillery firepower between Ukraine and Russia that analysts put at 6 to 1 in Russia’s favor.
As the Ukrainian military is outgunned and outmanned on the battlefield, Moscow’s forces have been increasing pressure along the entire front line and making gradual gains.
The increased use of drones by both sides has been shifting the conflict away from the battlefield to strikes on each other’s military, energy and transport infrastructure.
Ukrainian Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, used to hit targets inside Russia in recent months, can now hit targets more than 750 miles away, Sukharevskyi said.
Oleksandr Kamyshin, Ukraine’s minister of strategic industries, said Ukrainian weapons manufacturers had fueled both military and economic progress in the country.
Ukraine’s booming military-industrial complex grew GDP by 1.5% in 2023, a significant chunk of the total GDP growth last year of around 5%.
Kamyshin said he was confident that figure would double to 3% of GDP growth this year. But he warned Ukraine’s government could not afford to buy up all its domestic weapons’ production.
Ukraine was in discussions with international allies about the purchase of weapons for Ukraine from Ukrainian makers to cover the financial shortfall, he said.
“I am convinced that we will start purchases from Ukrainian manufacturers with foreign funds” in the near future, he said.
Ukraine calls for ‘bold’ air defense support from allies
Ukraine appealed again to allies on Monday for “extraordinary and bold steps” to supply air defenses to help defend against waves of Russian airstrikes that have targeted the energy system in recent weeks.
Russian missile and drone attacks have pounded Ukrainian energy infrastructure since mid-March, prompting Kyiv to issue increasingly desperate calls for air defense help.
“We urgently require additional Patriot and other modern air defense systems, weapons and ammunition,” Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told a Black Sea security conference via video link. “I take this opportunity to once again urge all of our partners to take extraordinary and bold steps.”
“Ukrainian air defense is now protecting
Russian forces killed two people and injured four more in a strike on an education facility in the Kharkiv region on Monday, its governor said.
The Russian military used a guided aerial bomb on Lukiantsi village near the Russian border, the region’s governor, Oleh Syniehubov, said on the Telegram messaging app.
Syniehubov added that the four people injured in the attack were hospitalized with blast injuries and shrapnel wounds.
As Russia has intensified its strikes in the spring, the Kharkiv region has increasingly taken the brunt of the attacks.
Ukraine’s air defense shortages and the eastern region’s proximity to Russia left it especially vulnerable to strikes on energy infrastructure, which have caused large-scale power cuts.