UKRAINE, May 21 — Ukraine is working on the creation of low-cost interceptor missiles to counter Russian Shahed kamikaze drones, said Mykhailo Federov, the Minister of Defense of Ukraine, during the meeting with journalists. 

Fedorov also said that Kyiv has found some technical solutions that are ‘nearly ready’ and is now testing them. 

According to the Minister of Defense, Ukraine plans to scale up production by a dozen times and create a stockpile for the Autumn-Winter period. During this time, Russia actively launches drone and missile attacks on the Ukrainian energy infrastructure. For this purpose, the state issues grants and restarts team recruitment. 

“This will help to protect the county’s critical infrastructure in addition to interceptor drones,” Fedorov said.  

Ukraine has actively used interceptor drones to counter Shaheds since the end of 2025. In April alone, Ukrainian interceptors downed over 2100 Russian air targets, said Oleksandr Syrskyi, the Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine. 

Fedorov also added that the development of interceptor missiles is needed to prepare Ukraine for the emergence of jet-powered Shahed drones. 

However, Russia has already used jet-powered Shahed in attacks on Ukraine. On Apr. 2, Russia used the jet-powered Geran-3 model, a modification of Moscow-adapted Iranian Shaheds. 

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