Ukraine has managed to catch up with Russia in terms of the number of long-range kamikaze drones. In addition, an improved version of the MAGURA maritime drone is expected shortly, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhaylo Fedorov said in a new episode of the Slon podcast.
"If we talk about the niche of Shaheds and long-range drones, I'll just quote Budanov. He said in an interview a few days ago that we have parity in terms of these drones. I will say that this is true. We have up to 10 manufacturers which produce long-range kamikaze drones," Fedorov said.
Although drone production is limited by funding, it continues to scale.
"We can produce thousands of these drones. Thousands have already been produced, and almost every day something burns down in Russia. And this can be scaled up. In six months, we have caught up in terms of numbers. Russia should understand that we will continue to scale up, and we have just started," the minister added.
According to Fedorov, Ukraine is simultaneously developing methods of electronic warfare to shift the load from air defence systems.
"Our partners are also looking at how kamikaze drones relieve air defence systems, and this is a challenge for any air defence system," Fedorov said.
Fedorov also said that an improved version of the MAGURA maritime drone would appear soon. According to the minister, a "new technological leap" in development is expected in 2024.
Earlier, Fedorov said that Ukraine was developing its own equivalent of the Russian Lancet kamikaze drone, which would be capable of hitting targets at a distance of up to 40 kilometres.