UKRAINE, Mar. 3 — In February of 2026, Ukrainian interceptor drones destroyed over 1,500 Russian drones launched to attack Ukraine, reported Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s army, on his Facebook. 

Ukraine started to use interceptor drones at scale in 2024, after Ukraine’s major volunteer and charity organizations launched fundraisers for their purchase. The military says interceptor drones disrupted Russian dominance in the air. In 2025, interceptor drones started to down Russian kamikaze drones. 

These interceptor drones downed 70% of Shaheds above Kyiv and its outskirts during the last month, Syrskyi added. 

Syrskyi also said that he is working with defence manufacturers on making it possible for interceptor drones to counter Shaheds at ultra-low altitudes. 

At the end of January, Serhii Beskrestnov, with the call sign Flash, an expert in electronic warfare and current advisor to Ukraine’s minister of defence, wrote that Russian troops began flying Shaheds at an altitude of about 10 meters to avoid signal detection and using manual control to attack their targets. 

In January of 2026, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed Ukraine manufactures about 1,000 interceptor drones per day, but they lack pilots. 

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