Khmara urges EU to fund interceptor drone production
Ukraine’s Defense Minister Yevhenii Khmara urged European Union countries to help finance the production of interceptors capable of countering Russia’s jet-powered strike drones.
Ukraine's Defense Minister Yevhenii Khmara has called on the European Union to fund the production of interceptor drones designed to counter Russia's jet-powered strike drones. The Defense Ministry quoted Khmara after he participated in a meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council on September 28. Ukraine is looking for affordable and efficient methods to counter the Shahed drones, which can be neutralized by interceptors.
Ukrainian manufacturers are also developing their own solutions. Khmara urged EU partners to finance the endeavor, enabling Ukraine to acquire a sufficient number of interceptors promptly. He also emphasized the need for more air-to-air missiles, MANPADS, and ammunition for F-16 jets. Additionally, Ukraine requires extra missiles for Patriot air defense systems to counter Russian ballistic missiles.
Khmara suggested that EU nations could transfer some munitions from their stocks, with Ukraine compensating them with missiles under existing contracts. As of August, Ukraine had only four interceptors capable of destroying jet-powered drones, which have undergone field testing but require scaling up production to thousands of units to have a significant impact.
Written by urgent.news from New Voice of Ukraine's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
