Ukraine’s air defense has become more effective in a week – General Staff

Ukraine's air defense system effectiveness is now 64%, which is much more than a week ago.

The Deputy Chief of the Main Operational Department of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Brigadier General Oleksii Hromov, announced this at a briefing, Interfax-Ukraine reports.

"The effectiveness of our air defense system is at a fairly high level—64%. And we destroyed 81 missiles out of 126 used," Hromov noted.

He pointed out that after gaining experience and receiving new samples of portable anti-aircraft missile systems over the past week, the efficiency of the air defense system of Ukraine has significantly increased.

The representative of the General Staff emphasized that since October 10, the russian have sharply increased the intensity of the shelling. They launched 154 rockets on the territory of Ukraine, which, compared to the month's first decade, is almost seven times more. Then the russians fired 21 missiles.

Air-launched cruise missiles have become russia's primary type of missile weapon over the past ten days, which was not the case before.

The number of missiles used—83 units—exceeded the number of rockets used during four months: June, July, August, and September. The russians used only 43 missiles in that period.

Hromov added that almost a third—29% of the missiles used—were sea-based cruise missiles of the Kalibr type, which were also not used during the previous period.

Also, the russians increased the intensity of using land-based cruise missiles and launched eight missiles. In contrast, in the previous period, it used only one missile over the territory of Ukraine.

According to Hromov, since October 10, the enemy has used 176 drones in Ukraine, which is 2.5 times more than in the previous decade.

Hromov added that of the unmanned aerial vehicles used by the russians over the past week, 65 drones were probably aimed at objects in Kyiv and the Kyiv region. Almost half of them—27 units—were launched from Belarus.