Russia’s new class of jet-powered drones rip across the night sky in Kyiv at hundreds of kilometers per hour, leaving Ukrainian air-defense units only moments to intercept them.
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class → power → them
It’s rarely enough time.
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It → ’ → ?
With many of the drones getting through to the capital, defense manufacturers are scrambling to develop a new generation of interceptors to counter the deadly threat.
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manufacturers → get → threat
They are building their own jet-propulsion systems and training artificial intelligence to help guide the chase.
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They → build → chase
They need to move fast because the Russian drones are driving a new tactic, ramped up in recent weeks, to hit the infrastructure keeping Ukraine’s war-battered economy afloat.
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drones → need → economy
Recent targets have included energy systems, key industries, railways, post offices, shopping centers, telecom networks, gas stations and grain exports.
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targets → include → systems
Russia also has an advantage with its ballistic missile arsenal, which poses another challenge as Ukraine runs low on interceptor missiles.
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Ukraine → have → missiles
The effects of the barrage are being felt in Kyiv, which increasingly resembles a front-line city, without the relative safety that had long set it apart from the fighting.
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that → feel → fighting
Food supplies have been disrupted, explosions echo day and night, and residents scramble for cover from strikes that reach closer to the city center.
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that → disrupt → center
Ukrainian officials say they are testing new interceptors that have successfully hit jet-powered Russian drones, which fly much higher and faster than propeller-driven drones and are much harder to stop.
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which → say → drones
“They’re moving so fast that we can’t get a proper lock on them,” said Volodymyr Serdiuk, commander of an air-defense unit.
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Serdiuk → move → unit
Building the prototype interceptors in sufficient numbers, and training pilots to fly them, could take up to six months, manufacturers say.
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manufacturers → build → months
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called for faster production.
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Zelenskyy → call → production
Air-defense crews have no time to wait.
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crews → have → time
Facing constant waves of drones, they improvise, but lives are lost almost daily.
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lives → face → drones
Air-defense forces struggle to repel jet-powered drone attacks
Serdiuk’s air-defense crew begins their night shift at 8 p.m.
He studies a tablet connected to a centralized radar system to track the sky above his sector.
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He → struggle → sector
A circle marks the stretch of airspace his unit is responsible for protecting.
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unit → mark → airspace
“It’s like chasing a pig in the forest,” he said of the new drones, which are based on Iranian-designed Shahed models.
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which → ’ → models
His son is serving on the front line in eastern Ukraine and now calls him in Kyiv just to check that he is safe, a measure of just how much life in the capital has deteriorated.
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life → serve → capital
To the west, the lights of Kyiv twinkle on the horizon.
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lights → twinkle → horizon
To the east, the green countryside and suburbs stretch into the darkness, with a power plant visible in the distance.
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countryside → stretch → distance
Then a red marker appears on the screen, moving rapidly across the map.
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marker → appear → map
It’s a jet-powered Shahed drone.
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It → ’ → ?
“Exit!” someone cries.
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someone → exit → Exit
Serdiuk looks up.
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Serdiuk → look → ?
Moments later, the Shahed streaks across the night sky.
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Shahed → streak → sky
His team relies on heavy machine guns, but their rounds cannot match the drone’s speed or altitude.
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rounds → rely → speed
Seconds later, the sound of an explosion reaches them from several kilometers away.
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sound → reach → them
In that particular attack, it was not clear if the blast was from the Russian drone that flew past them, as official channels reported, or from a Ukrainian air-defense rocket, as witnesses at the site told The Associated Press.
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witnesses → fly → Press
The same sequence happened again and again throughout the night.
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sequence → happen → night
Even if the drones pass directly overhead, “the problem is they’re flying too high” to fire at them accurately, said Sean Almeida, a former U.S. Marine and volunteer for the unit.
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Almeida → pass → unit
Ukraine’s air defenses use electronic warfare and AI to steer incoming Russian drones into narrow corridors in the sky, giving interceptors a better chance of catching them.
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defenses → use → them
But the latest jet-powered Shahed drones are testing that strategy.
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drones → power → strategy
The fastest Ukrainian interceptors typically reach 300 to 400 kph (186 to 248 mph), not fast enough to meet the new threat.
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interceptors → reach → threat
Crews have started training on a new interceptor that includes a cooling system to keep its batteries from overheating as the drone is pushed to higher speeds to match the jet-powered enemy.
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drone → start → enemy
For now, salvation can appear on a radar screen as a blue blip representing one of Ukraine’s few F-16 fighter jets, scrambled to hunt down the fastest drones.
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salvation → appear → drones
They are capable of stopping the drones, but they need a lot of maintenance.
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they → stop → maintenance
Many are currently out of service and awaiting repairs.
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Many → await → repairs
“It’s very encouraging to see the blue part,” Almeida said.
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Almeida → ’ → part
Casualty reports soon began appearing on news channels.
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reports → appear → channels
…and 20 more, not listed.
The Aporia
