So, according to if military experts do this, it could play into Moscow’s hands in the long run.

Drone hunting is an expensive sport

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky warned in his speech that “Russia is betting on the depletion of our people, our air defense, our energy.”

Molfar said her team estimated that Russia had launched about 600 drones into Ukraine since September. The campaign, which targeted infrastructure and was accompanied by multiple rocket strikes, led to power, heat and water outages across Ukraine during a “harsh” winter.

Iranian production The Shahed-136 unmanned aerial vehicles, which Moscow has been increasingly relying on since October, are relatively easy to manufacture and quite cheap.. Production of self-destructing drones cost only $20,000and the cost of launching a rocket land/air prices can range from $140,000 for a Soviet-era S-300 to $500,000 for a US NASAMS missile.

Since the war began in February, both sides have been attacking with drones. Such a mass production of these weapons in a war in the heart of Europe is happening for the first time.

At the same time, the military authorities in Kyiv have released little information about their air defense systems. Few details are known about cost, information technology systems, and military planning.

Change of tactics of Russia – night attacks

However, it is known that while Ukrainian forces have had some success in combating drones, using anti-aircraft guns or even small arms, the situation changed when the Russians launched attacks at night.

Kyiv now also relies heavily on combat aircraft and land-based missiles. Over the weekend, officials said, Ukraine used several surface-to-air missiles launched from NASAMS.

Mikhail Kofman, a Russian military expert at the CNA Research Institute, said the Ukrainians are using “many different air defense systems” to counter the threat, including Soviet-era and NATO missile systems.

Some of Ukraine’s anti-aircraft guns, such as the Gepard-2 mobile artillery system, are cheap compared to other Soviet-era defense systems. However, some US interceptor missiles are quite expensive compared to drones. However, estimating how to shoot down drones with missiles is not always easy.

George Barros, an analyst at the Institute for the Study of War, said Ukraine could develop more sophisticated and expensive air defense systems to protect sensitive and critical infrastructure.

For example, shooting down a drone costs much less than repairing a damaged power plant, Mr. Starosik noted.

For his part, Matthew Buleg, adviser to the Russia and Eurasia program at the London-based research organization Chatham House, said that Ukraine at the moment there are enough air defense systems and ammunition to combat the threat of Russian drones. However, he reports that stocks are running low.

So, recognizing the risk that Western allies may find the cost of supporting Ukraine’s defenses prohibitive, officials have warned that Russian tactics are changing and focusing on night attacks.

The White House said it was aware of reports that the Kremlin and Tehran are seeking to set up a joint drone production line in Russia. In the long term, Mr. Buleg said, this will allow Moscow to use even more drones for attacks. “This will increase the load on the air defense system of Ukraine,” he said.

For now, Moscow has changed the way it uses the drones it already has.

Russian forces are increasingly launching their explosive drones at night and low over the Dnieper River, making them difficult for Ukraine to detect, according to Yuriy Ignat, a Ukrainian air force spokesman who spoke to Ukrainian radio. “A radar antenna that detects a target will not see it if the target flies below the level of the antenna,” he said.

With information: New York Times / Photo: AP