UkraineThe Kyiv Independent Live in London: October 2United Kingdom

Days until event:

03days
23hours
37minutes
40seconds
Get your ticket
Rescue workers put out a fire at a building damaged in a Russian drone strike in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Sept. 25, 2026.
Opinion

Russia's faster Shaheds could rival ballistic missiles this winter

by Oleksiy Moskalenko

A few months ago, the only particularly serious threat to Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities came from Russian and North Korean ballistic missiles. As the Ukrainian mil-tech industry and air defense units perfected their ability to intercept the common "Shahed" drones (now officially called Geran-2, although Ukrainians stick to the original Iranian name), raising the shoot-down rate to 90–95%, a shortage of anti-ballistic interceptor missiles seemed to be the main issue facing Ukraine in the upcom

News Feed

Ukraine’s defense tech boom needs more than battlefield innovation, deputy minister says

Ukraine’s defense technology industry has moved fast to meet battlefield demands, but it rests on a fragile foundation as it depends on foreign suppliers for essential components. Natalia Denikeieva, a deputy minister of digital transformation, says producing more of those components at home is a question of survival. "We are not technological and innovative because one day we woke up and decided to be," she told the Kyiv Independent in an interview in central Kyiv. "For us, it’s a matter of s

Natalia Denikeieva at the VivaTech conference in Paris, France, on June 18, 2026.
News Feed