Colonel Yuriy Cherevashenko, commander of Ukraine’s air defense drone systems, said Russia is currently only testing the use of jet-powered drones against Ukraine, but that the threat will become much more serious later.

He stressed that Russia’s drone developments turned out to be far from as ineffective as they were perceived in Ukraine at the start of the conflict. According to Cherevashenko, Russia has now scaled up drone use significantly, forcing Ukraine’s defense forces to operate at the limit of their capabilities.

Explaining Ukraine’s inability to shoot down drones, Cherevashenko blamed weather conditions, saying fog limits the use of certain types of weapons.

He said Russia’s jet-powered drones are not yet used on a mass scale, but their numbers are gradually increasing. He added that the jet-powered «Geran» drones that Ukraine still managed to shoot down were destroyed with fairly ordinary means. At the same time, the Ukrainian colonel said that once Russia puts production of such systems on a conveyor-belt scale, the situation could become far more dangerous.

He also said Ukraine is currently considering developing interceptors to counter Russia’s jet-powered «Geran» drones.