Zelenskyy explains how Ukraine will respond if Russia launches 1,000 UAVs a day
Ukraine is forced to plan for the worst-case scenario and prepare for a sharp increase in Russian drone attacks, while simultaneously scaling up the production of interceptor drones many times over.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said this while answering journalists’ questions.
According to the head of state, Russia has been seeking since last year to reach the capability of launching up to 1,000 attack drones per day. While the enemy has not yet achieved such figures, its real capabilities have already increased.
“Their average number used to be around 250 drones per day. Now I see roughly 350 — that is their real capacity. But we must plan for the worst-case scenario,” Zelenskyy stressed.
The president noted that if attacks continue to intensify, Ukraine must act proactively. He said the required balance should be at least two interceptor drones for every Shahed-type attack drone.
“If the Russians can use, for example, a thousand drones, then we must have a minimum of two interceptors for each Shahed,” he explained.
Zelenskyy reported that Ukrainian production of interceptor drones has already reached approximately 1,000 units per day, but this is still insufficient to fully counter the threat. At the same time, the number of interceptors has already exceeded the number of trained operators.
According to him, the main challenge is no longer technology but human resources — the formation and scaling up of mobile groups and units.
“The interceptors have already outpaced the number of our operators. Now we need to catch up in terms of the number of groups, interceptors, and relevant mobile units,” the president said.
He added that this task has been assigned to Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrskyi and the new Minister of Defence, Mykhailo Fedorov. According to Zelenskyy, capacity building is taking place both through domestic production and through partnership agreements with international allies who finance Ukraine’s defence sector.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also clearly stated that Denmark has not approached Ukraine with any request to send Ukrainian troops to Greenland.
