Russia is increasingly deploying jet-powered strike drones with speeds far beyond the reach of Ukraine's own interceptor drones, Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat said, as Moscow's newest models close in on the performance of cruise missiles.

In the escalting tit-for-tat missile war, an arms race between Russia and Ukraine is in full swing with neither side taking a decisive lead. Russia has scaled up product at its drone factory in the Alabuga Special Economic Zone in Tatarstan and continues to innovate with the latest model of the Geran-5 sporting a jet engine and new sophisticated radar and communications gear. Ukraine has countered with new medium- and long-range drones that are laying hell with Russia’s supply lines behind the frontline and has hit every single one of Russia’s 30 large oil refineries, some of them thousands of kilometers from the border.

Ihnat said the jet-powered drones can reach up to 500-600 km/h, while Russia's newest model, the Dan-M, has been clocked at up to 750 km/h, Euronews reported. Ukraine's own interceptor drones top out at around 300 km/h, leaving mobile fire groups and heavy machine guns largely unable to stop them; Ihnat said such targets now require anti-aircraft systems or air-launched missiles instead.

As IntelliNews reported in May, the jet-powered drone threat builds on Russia's "Banderol", a hybrid drone-cruise missile Moscow began fielding as it continues to expand and modernise its missile programme despite Western sanctions — while Ukraine developed its first long-range cruise missiles only in the past year.

The stakes are high because Ukraine has largely run out of Patriot interceptors to counter Russian ballistic and cruise missiles, leaving cheaper interceptor drones as one of its last lines of defence against aerial attack. IntelliNews reported this month that record civilian deaths in Ukraine are being driven less by a shift in Russian targeting than by the shortage of Ukrainian air-defence interceptors, with Moscow using long-range strikes to disrupt logistics, energy and port infrastructure alongside its bombardment of cities.

Ukraine is racing to respond in kind: its manufacturers are developing high-speed, jet-powered interceptors capable of more than 450 km/h, with the air force's deputy commander saying some already reach 700 km/h — turning them, in effect, into makeshift air-defence missiles.