Ukraine has reached parity with Russia in drones, and this is just the beginning, - Fedorov

Ukraine is increasing its own production of drones, and the state is actively purchasing them from domestic manufacturers for the needs of the Defense Forces. More than 90% of the drones purchased last year as part of the Army of Drones project did not exist in nature in 2022.

This was stated by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov in a new episode of the Elephant podcast. The minister assures that our country has reached parity with Russia in long-range drones, but is not going to stop there.

"Russian oil depots don't explode by themselves, and ships don't just sink. In a new episode of the podcast, Slon showed Ukrainian drones that the state purchased for the Defense Forces last year as part of the Army of Drones project. More than 90% of them did not exist in 2022. To do this, we have radically changed the rules of the game, and now there is market competition among manufacturers," Fedorov said.

The Minister of Digital Transformation assures us that Ukrainian drone production is growing steadily, and manufacturing companies are scaling up. The state, he assures, creates the best conditions for this.

This synergy between business and the state leads to an increasing number of videos with spectacular shots of enemy targets being hit. For example, since June last year, Ukrainian soldiers have used drones to hit about 14,000 targets: enemy equipment and weapons, as well as strongholds, oil depots, ships, and other important enemy targets.

In particular, marine drones have become very effective in "demilitarizing" the enemy. In 2024, Fedorov announced a "technological leap" in their production.

"There will be even more maritime drones," said Fedorov, adding that a number of extremely unpleasant "surprises" are being prepared for the existing surface drones.

The same applies to long-range kamikaze drones, which are being developed and improved continuously.

"If we are talking about the Shahed niche, these are long-range drones, then I will just quote Budanov (Chief of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine Kyrylo Budanov - Ed.), he said a few days ago that we (Russia - Ed.) already have parity in these drones. And I will say that this is true. Because now there are up to ten manufacturers that produce long-range kamikaze drones. And it depends on the budget how many can be produced. There is no specific ceiling. You can produce thousands of these kamikaze drones. Thousands have already been produced. And we see that almost every day something is burning somewhere in Russia. This can be scaled up," emphasized Fedorov.

He also added that active work is also underway to counter enemy drones and develop electronic warfare equipment.

In the video that Fedorov offers to watch, you can see some of the new Ukrainian drones.

"The podcast contains the most comprehensive description of everything we have done in less than a year. Listen to it to understand how the industry is functioning now. The episode is available on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Megogo," the minister said.

As a reminder, on February 9, it became known about a severe fire at the Ilyich Oil Refinery in the Krasnodar Territory of the Russian Federation. Russians complained about UAVs and explosions.

The operational headquarters of the region admitted that a fire had occurred on the territory of the Ilyich Oil Refinery and issued a statement saying that "the open fire was promptly extinguished by the plant's services."

Later, it became known that two refineries in the Krasnodar Territory were hit that night. They were hit by drones during the SSU operation.

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