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| Ukraine Claims to be Developing Long-Range Weapons to Attack Russia (pict of Illustration) |
Kiev - Ukraine's state-owned defense company 'Ukroboronprom' said on October 17 that the Ukrainian government had developed a long-range strike capability weapon and was almost ready for military use. The weapons will be deployed in response to Russian attacks carried out using roaming Iranian drones.
The company published a partial image of the nosecone unmanned fighter aircraft (UCAV) along with several other details. According to available information, this weapon can have a range of 1000 kilometers and a weight of 75 kilograms.
“Today, Kyiv was attacked again by the Iranian-supplied Shahed-136, known as Geran-2, in Russian service. Ukroboronprom has been operating in an upgraded fashion since its full-scale invasion in February,” the company said in a statement, quoted by The Eurasian Times.
Russia has widely deployed the Iranian Shahed-136 kamikaze drone due to its cost effectiveness and development capabilities. Russia has also deployed domestically-made kamikaze drones called the Lancet-1 and Lancet-3 against Ukraine.
This became even more pronounced after Kyiv carried out a devastating attack on the strategic Kerch Bridge linking mainland Russia with Crimea. With depleting supplies of precision-guided missiles and crippling sanctions hampering the development of more rapid munitions. Moscow wholeheartedly embraces suicide drones.
Although there is little information available about Ukraine's new long-range attack weapons system. The country has long sought to acquire long-range weapons from its western partners. The wait is futile since countries like the US have so far refrained from sending long-range weapons that could offend Russia and escalate the war.
In addition, Russia has warned the US against sending long-range weapons to Ukraine. A move he said could lead to Washington's direct involvement in the conflict. Russia has also threatened the use of tactical nuclear weapons in its regular subtle warnings to Ukraine and NATO.
On the other hand it is known that Russian missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities continue. On October 17, amid increasing attacks, images from Ukraine showed soldiers and possibly even civilians firing assault rifles and other small arms at an approaching suicide drone.
“All night and all morning, the enemy terrorized the civilian population. Kamikaze drones and missiles strike all over Ukraine. The enemy can attack our cities, but will not be able to destroy us," Zelensky added, quoted by The Eurasian Times.
This is the second significant wave of Russian attacks in Ukraine in more than a week. However, in contrast to last week's air strikes, which rained heavily on cruise and ballistic missiles, the strikes in the past two days appear to have been led by the Shahed-136 drone also known as Geran-2 by the Russian military.
Relations between Russia and Ukraine continue to heat up. The war that has raged since last February is still ongoing. And until now there is no sign of the conflict between Russia vs Ukraine will subside.