Threat from Shahed drones neutralized by 70%, could reach 90% by year-end – commander

A company commander in the 412th Separate Nemesis Brigade of the Unmanned Systems Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) Oleksandr Yarmak said the threat posed by Shahed drones used by Russian occupiers to strike Ukraine could be neutralized by 90%-95% by the end of this year.

"With the appearance of the Shaheds, we saw that it was extremely difficult to intercept such a huge number of drones. We had days when there were up to 1,000 drones. At present, we have reached a point where we have neutralized about 70% of the Shahed threat, and by the end of the year we forecast 90%-95%," Yarmak said at the 18th annual Kyiv Security Forum, titled "Darkness or Dawn: Is There Light Ahead?"

As reported by an Interfax-Ukraine correspondent, he noted that the number of Shahed UAVs used by Russia last year and the number used as of early April 2026 had doubled.

"We are building a multilayered air defense system. We are building it by distributing targets and forming echelons in such a way that the closer we are to the border and the line of combat contact, the cheaper the means we try to use to intercept targets," Yarmak said.

Kyiv Security Forum is an annual international event launched in 2007 on the initiative of Arseniy Yatsenyuk's Open Ukraine Foundation. This year it is being held on April 23 and 24.