Ukraine claims near-90% air-defense success in March as attacks increase

PARIS — Ukraine claimed its air defenses were close to 90% effective in March in destroying or suppressing Russian targets, as both sides tout their successes in what has become one of the defining features of the war between the two countries: defending against massed attacks of drones and missiles.

The air-defense interception rate has been steadily rising in recent months, according to data from Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, climbing to 89.9% in March from 85.6% in February and 80.2% in December. At the same time, Russian attacks increased to 6,600 last month from 5,345 in February, the ministry said in a social media post on Wednesday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week visited Middle Eastern countries facing Iranian drone attacks, offering to share the interception expertise Ukraine has built up over four years of Russian air war. With air-defense missiles in short supply and costly, Ukraine has turned to solutions ranging from AI-assisted machine guns on pickup trucks to electronic warfare and interceptor drones.

“The frequency of attacks is increasing but air defense performance is improving,” the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense said.

Russia is promoting its own air-defense successes, with TASS reporting on Tuesday that a so-called Donbass Dome is making Ukraine’s high-speed Skat drone ineffective, citing claims by the Russian Federal Security Service Directorate. The air-defense system is able to repel “virtually any drone of this type,” the state-owned news agency said.

Ukraine is building a multi-layered air defense system and stepping up production of interceptors in order to protect civilians and critical infrastructure, according to a war plan presented by Minister of Defense Mykhailo Fedorov in February. The goal is real-time detection of all aerial threats, and intercepting at least 95% of them.

The country could produce 2,000 drone interceptors a day, provided it has sufficient funding, Zelenskyy told Reuters in an interview in March. In the Kyiv region in February, more than 70% of Russian Shahed-type drones were destroyed by interceptor drones, according to Ukraine’s commander in chief Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi.

Recent Ukrainian interceptor-drone models include the JEDI Shahed Hunter , a multi-rotor drone that can hit speeds of more 350 kilometers per hour, and the winged Shvidun with a speed of more than 250 kilometers per hour and an operational range of more than 70 kilometers.

Beyond equipment innovation, Ukraine is also experimenting by allowing private companies to develop their own air-defense capabilities to protect infrastructure, while being part of the broader command-and-control system. One company already shot down several drones in Kharkiv Oblast, with another 13 firms authorized to set up air-defense groups, the Ministry of Defense said on Monday .

Rudy Ruitenberg is a Europe correspondent for Defense News. He started his career at Bloomberg News and has experience reporting on technology, commodity markets and politics.

巴黎——乌克兰声称，3月份其防空系统在摧毁或压制俄罗斯目标方面有效率接近90%。双方都在吹嘘自己在这一领域取得的成功，而这已成为两国战争的一个决定性特征：防御无人机和导弹的大规模攻击。

根据乌克兰国防部的数据，近几个月来，防空拦截率稳步上升，3月份升至89.9%，高于2月份的85.6%和12月份的80.2%。与此同时，该部周三在社交媒体上发文称，俄罗斯对乌克兰的袭击次数从2月份的5345次增加到上个月的6600次。

乌克兰总统泽连斯基上周访问了正遭受伊朗无人机袭击的中东国家，并表示愿意分享乌克兰在过去四年与俄罗斯的空袭中积累的拦截技术。由于防空导弹短缺且价格昂贵，乌克兰已转向多种解决方案，包括皮卡车上的人工智能辅助机枪、电子战和拦截无人机。

乌克兰国防部表示：“袭击频率正在增加，但防空性能正在提高。”

俄罗斯正在大力宣传其防空系统取得的成就。塔斯社周二报道称，俄罗斯联邦安全局的说法称，所谓的“顿巴斯穹顶”系统能够有效防御乌克兰的高速“斯卡特”无人机。这家国营通讯社表示，该防空系统能够击退“几乎所有此类无人机”。

根据乌克兰国防部长米哈伊洛·费多罗夫2月份提出的作战计划，乌克兰正在建设多层防空系统并加紧生产拦截弹，以保护平民和关键基础设施。该计划的目标是实时探测所有空中威胁，并拦截至少95%的威胁。

泽连斯基在3月份接受路透社采访时表示，如果资金充足，乌克兰每天可以生产2000架无人机拦截器。据乌克兰武装部队总司令奥列克桑德·瑟尔斯基将军称，2月份在基辅地区，超过70%的俄罗斯“沙赫德”型无人机被拦截无人机摧毁。

乌克兰最近研制的拦截无人机型号包括 JEDI Shahed Hunter，这是一款多旋翼无人机，速度可达每小时 350 公里以上；还有 Shvidun，这是一款带翼无人机，速度超过每小时 250 公里，作战范围超过 70 公里。

除了装备创新之外，乌克兰还在尝试允许私营企业发展自身的防空能力以保护基础设施，同时将其纳入更广泛的指挥控制系统。国防部周一表示，一家公司已经在哈尔科夫州击落了数架无人机，另有13家公司获准组建防空部队。

鲁迪·鲁伊滕贝格是《防务新闻》的欧洲记者。他的职业生涯始于彭博新闻社，拥有报道科技、大宗商品市场和政治方面的经验。