‘A life-or-death race’: the volunteers protecting Kyiv’s skies from new jet-powered drones

Key Points:

• Kyiv's volunteer air-defense unit Mriya faces challenges against Russia's new jet-powered attack drones, which fly faster and higher than previous models, making them difficult to intercept with existing weapons.
• These jet drones travel at speeds up to 600 km/h and altitudes of 10 km, outpacing the volunteers' Soviet-era machine guns designed for slower targets, resulting in a decreased interception rate of 50-60%.
• Russia has intensified its air campaign on Kyiv, using jet drones to strike key infrastructure like bridges and causing disruptions to electricity and water supplies, forcing residents to take shelter in metro stations.
• Ukraine is developing its own high-speed interceptor drones to counter the threat, but production is hindered by shortages of small jet engines, with estimates suggesting it will take several months to build sufficient numbers.
• The evolving drone warfare represents a continuous technological race, with both sides adapting their drone capabilities and countermeasures in a life-or-death struggle over air superiority above Ukraine.