The president of Ukraine is angry that his country has been a testing ground for Russian weapons

Jakarta –

Ukraine passed, Volodymyr Zelenskyexpressed concerns that his country had been the target of new Russian weapons tests. That’s after nearly 500 drones and more than 20 Russian missiles attacked Ukraine in a week.

Russia’s new hypersonic missile, which is still being tested, called Oreshnik, hit the city of Dnipro. Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the Oreshnik could not be banned and that his party would continue to test similar weapons.

Not only that, Zelenskyy is worried about the increasingly frequent attacks by Shahed drones that have been modified by Russians from Iran. About 460 drones were launched by Russia into Ukrainian airspace.

“Ukraine is not a testing ground for weapons. Ukraine is a sovereign and independent country. But Russia is still trying to kill our people, spread fear and panic, and weaken us,” he said. detikINET from the Guardian, Tuesday (26/11/2024).

Ukraine said Russia established two factories to manufacture the Shahed 136 delta-wing drone, called Geran-2 by Moscow, in Tatarstan, about 1,200 km from the Ukrainian border. Production is reported to be in the hundreds per week.

The drones are often shot into Ukraine as soon as they are ready in production. Although they are easier to shoot down or neutralize than missiles, drones can still cause significant damage with their 50 kg warheads when they reach their targets.

Last October, 2,023 Shahed drones were launched into Ukraine, a record according to the Kyiv military. Last week’s figures showed the same level of attacks on Kyiv and other cities happening almost every night, leaving weary civilians awoken by air raid warnings.

Russia is still modifying drones to make them more lethal. Zelenskyy said Ukraine needed more air defense systems. “We are working with our partners to do this. It is very important to strengthen our air defenses,” he said.

Since the Shahed 136 drone is relatively cheap, it would not be worth using Patriot missiles to shoot it down because they cost about $4 million (£3.2 million) per unit. Ukrainian special forces often use truck-mounted machine guns to take them out.

Ukrainian experts are also working to develop a cheap drone, costing less than USD 1,000, capable of taking down Shahed. But the task was made difficult because the turbulent air flow that Shahed caused while flying affected smaller drones.

(fay/fay)