Oleksandr Syrsky, Ukraine's military commander, stated on 18/1 that Russia shows no signs of pursuing peace negotiations, but rather is accelerating weapons production. "We observe the adversary increasing the intensity of military operations and the number of assault units. The production of weapons, missiles, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is also rising," he said.

Ukraine's military leader estimates Russia currently produces 404 long-range Geran-2 suicide UAVs daily. "The adversary plans to significantly increase production, up to 1,000 units daily," he warned.

General Syrsky believes Ukraine's military must do everything possible to inflict significant losses and disrupt the enemy's plan to boost war resources, thereby creating conditions for dialogue without being in a weak position at the negotiating table.

Ukrainian soldiers stand next to the wreckage of a Geran-2 UAV. *Photo: Ukraine Ministry of Defense*.

He supports the tactics of deep strikes within Russian territory, primarily targeting the oil industry, which Ukraine's military regularly employs. Kyiv also focuses on developing interceptor UAVs, instead of using missiles, to save costs when countering large-scale enemy attacks.

Andriy Kovalenko, director of the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, also believes Russia plans to increase its production capacity for attack UAVs. He called this a threat to Ukraine and European NATO members, stressing that "it is UAVs, not Russian infantry, that have crossed the alliance's borders".

Russian officials have not commented on the information.

The Geran-2 is a suicide UAV domestically produced by Russia, based on the design of Iran's Shahed-136 series. Russia has continuously improved the Geran series, including increasing the warhead weight carried by the UAV, installing jet engines for higher and faster flight, and equipping it with sensors, cameras, and remote control systems.

Russian forces have also continuously changed their attack tactics with Geran UAVs, including using the aircraft to clear the way for missiles, attacking in swarms to overwhelm Ukraine's air defense, and even using variants equipped with cameras to hunt down enemy mobile air defense units and then designate targets for allied UAVs to attack.

Some recent Geran-2 UAVs carry short-range R-60 air-to-air missiles or Verba man-portable air-defense systems, capable of shooting down targets at a distance of 6-8 km. According to experts, this Geran-2 variant is used to counter Ukrainian helicopters and aircraft on interception missions.

Thanh Danh (According to Reuters, RBC Ukraine)