Russia has begun manufacturing individual parts for Shahed-136 kamikaze drones, Andriy Yusov, a representative of the Ukrainian Defence Ministry's Main Intelligence Directorate, has told the news telethon.
"At the moment, we are talking about large-scale assembly and increasing localisation: some parts are already being produced in Russia - something primitive, the simplest thing that Russians can produce in this weapon," he said.
He noted that Russia seeks to start full-scale production of these drones, but so far has not been able to achieve it.
"However, this is a serious challenge for Ukraine, for the Ukrainian security and defence forces, in particular, for our partners to strengthen Ukrainian air and missile defence systems and means," he concluded.
According to British intelligence, Russia has begun using its own unilateral unmanned aerial vehicles (OWA-UAV), based on Iranian developments of the Shahed drone. However, the Kremlin still depends on Iranian arms supplies.