The Ukrainian armed forces said they are lacking radars for short-range air defense

Ukraine is facing a shortage of radars for short-range air defense systems, as well as a lack of personnel to destroy Russian drones.

This was stated by Senior Sergeant Oleksandr Karpiuk of the 59th Assault Brigade’s Unmanned Systems Battalion of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces, known by the call sign “Serh Marco,” in an interview with Radio NV.

According to him, the General Staff is focused on developing small-scale drone-based air defense, but there are problems, in particular a shortage of crews and radar systems for detecting enemy targets.

“More or less, things have supposedly started to level out somewhat with interceptor drones. But all these crews are not very effective when you do not have a radar,” he noted.

Karpiuk added that some Ukrainian radars still do not fully meet operational needs. He specified that all the radars planned for production in Ukraine before the beginning of 2027 have already been contracted.

“And what do we do about it, where do we look for some alternatives? We need to buy up everything Chinese or Western, because we really are not keeping up,” he stressed.

As a reminder, Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said that the Air Force, under the leadership of deputy commander Pavlo Yelyzarov, had formed a short-range air defense branch headed by Colonel Yevhen Khlebnikov.