Russia has launched approximately 3,800 Iranian Shahed kamikaze drones into Ukraine since September 2022, and Ukrainian air defense forces have shot down around 3,000 of them, Air Force spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat said on national television on Dec. 31.

“The strengthening of our air defenses with Western systems began in October 2022,” he explained.

“Therefore, today we are strengthening ourselves by all possible means. Today there is a wide range of weapons provided by the West, but the quantity is certainly not enough.”

Read also: Russian overnight attack: ‘We’ve never seen so many targets on our monitor at the same time’

Ihnat emphasized the effectiveness of NASAMS air defense systems in particular, which were among the first air defense systems delivered last year to effectively counter Russian kamikaze drones.

Ukrainian air defenses sometimes manage to shoot down 100% of the drones launched by the Russians, “but if the enemy changes the focus of the attack, we must understand that it will always be difficult for us to carry out such a downing as we would like,” Ihnat added.

Read also:

Twenty-one out of 49 Shahed kamikaze drones, launched from Russia’s Primorsk-Akhtarsk, Krasnodar Krai and Kursk Oblast, and the temporarily occupied Crimean Cape Chauda, were shot down overnight, the Ukrainian Air Force reported on Dec. 31.

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