Ukraine boosts air defense, launches digital system to analyze Russian attacks

According to him, after every large-scale Russian attack, teams from the Defense Ministry and the Air Force gathered to analyze the placement of interceptors, the locations where Shahed drones were shot down, ballistic missile trajectories, the performance of short-range air defense systems and the consequences of the strikes.

“Decisions were made on what needed to be improved. An electronic system has already been introduced that analyzes all attacks quite effectively,” Fedorov said, adding that strengthening air defenses became the main focus of the revamped Defense Ministry in its first month of work.

Fedorov also said the ministry’s team had dismantled a mesh network used by Russian Shahed drones in northern Ukraine. That, he added, has had a positive impact on the defense of Kyiv and the entire central part of the country.

Mykhailo Fedorov was appointed minister of defense on Jan. 14, 2026, after being dismissed as head of the Ministry of Digital Transformation.

On Feb. 26, during a massive Russian attack on Ukraine, air defenses shot down all Zircon hypersonic missiles and cruise missiles. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that in recent weeks the Air Force had improved its performance and that “some things were restructured” in the organization of defenses against large-scale Russian attacks.