Ukrainian air force lacks ammunition to reliably counter new Shahed drones

“We have a number of different aircraft, ranging from Soviet MiG-29s and Su-27s to aviation platforms provided by our partners,” Rakhmanin said.

“They are outdated, but they can be highly effective against these drones. The problem is not the aircraft; there are no missiles.”

“We are not talking about particularly complex or very expensive missiles. We are talking about relatively inexpensive missiles when compared with PAC-3s, for example. We are talking about AIM-9s. We have been asking for them for a long time,” he added.

Rakhmanin said Ukraine’s partners have the missiles but have declined to provide them.

“The explanations they offer vary; they include the need to protect their own airspace and the need to use the missiles themselves,” he said.

Ukraine previously had its own air-to-air missiles, Rakhmanin said, but almost all of them have now been used.

“There are remnants of old Soviet missiles that are also being adapted and integrated onto foreign aircraft platforms as well as domestic, post-Soviet fighter jets, in an effort to use them to shoot down drones,” he said.

“This requires time, but work is underway, and it did not begin yesterday. It cannot be done in a day or two.”

On Sept. 28, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s air defense forces shoot down about 70% of drones during large-scale Russian attacks. The interception rate for jet-powered drones is 57%, he said.