Ukraine tests anti-drone weapon, two killed in strikes
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Ukraine is carrying out tests on a new weapon to intercept drones and recorded a successful hit overnight, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says.
“Another development is undergoing testing. It’s a Ukrainian development and it scored a hit, the ‘shahed’ was destroyed,” Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address, referring to the Iranian-designed drones that Ukraine’s military has faced.
“But some technical things still need to be refined. We need a bit more time. The work of other developers is continuing.”
Ukraine’s military said on Facebook that its forces had downed 187 airborne targets overnight.
In his remarks, Zelenskiy said 93 per cent of all Russian drones had been intercepted overnight.
“That is significant. But, of course, more is needed,” he said.
Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, Ukraine has rapidly developed anti-drone technology and now offers its expertise to other countries, including some in the Middle East that have faced Iranian strikes.
It has focused on developing interceptors as an efficient and cheaper means of intercepting drones.
Ukrainian forces have had more difficulty downing Russian ballistic missiles and have asked Western allies to step up supplies of interceptors. Kyiv is also pressing for the rapid development of a European-designed air defence system, known as Freyja.
Separately, Zelenskiy said Russian drones attacked Moldovan airspace twice while he was in the country aboard his aircraft in transit.
Zelenskiy told the US television network CBS that he was in Moldova on Ukraine’s western border, at Chisinau airport, on his way to and from a trip abroad when the incidents occurred.
“In Moldova, my presidential jet was there and that’s why they attacked Moldova, the airspace of Moldova. Maybe they didn’t want to attack me personally,” he said.
“When we came back home, again through Chisinau, again they did the same.”
On September 9, a Moldovan government spokesperson said the departure of Zelenskiy’s aircraft for Norway was delayed as Moldovan authorities closed the country’s airspace over a drone alert.
Two Russian drones entered Moldovan airspace on that day. One landed in a field north of the capital, triggering a fire, while the second carried on into Romanian airspace.
Zelenskiy had not previously spoken of the second incident.
It was not clear exactly when the president was again in transit in Moldova on his way back to Ukraine from Canada.
Moldovan authorities said two drones entered the country’s airspace on September 14 for about 10 minutes each over the space of an hour before noon local time.
On the battlefront, a man and a woman were killed overnight in a Russian attack on the eastern Ukrainian city of Slovyansk.
Another woman was injured, according to a Facebook post by Vadym Lyakh, head of the city’s military administration. Three residential buildings were damaged.
Lyakh did not specify the type of weapon used. Slovyansk is situated in the Donetsk region, approximately 15km from the Russian-Ukrainian frontline.
with DPA
Reuters