10/16/2025

With the onset of cold weather, the enemy has purposefully resumed massive attacks on the energy infrastructure of our country, using drones, cruise and ballistic missiles in coordinated waves. These attacks are becoming not only more frequent, but also technologically more complex. Effective protection requires multi-layered defense: a combination of active air defense, long-range missile defense systems, passive and active radar, sound and visual detection, as well as artificial intelligence tools for threat analysis and operational selection of countermeasures.

Ukraine needs long-range and precise means of destruction to deliver painful blows to key objects of defense and economic importance of the enemy, but at the same time without threatening the civilian population of the aggressor country. The latest domestic developments, missiles and drones, have demonstrated remarkable efficiency, but for sustainable results, ready-made platforms and missiles such as Storm Shadow, ATACMS, Taurus are needed. Tomahawk missiles, if supplied, will have both a psychological and practical effect, provided that there are sufficient numbers, intelligence and control platforms.

This opinion was expressed by aviation expert Anatoly Khrapchinsky in an exclusive interview with OBOZ.UA.

– It is quite expected that with the onset of cold weather, the enemy began to strike at Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. In particular, a powerful attack involving drones, cruise and ballistic missiles took place on the night of October 10. Do you see any particular features, differences between the latest attacks and what we observed before? If so, what are these differences? Have these attacks become more dangerous?

– Let’s start with the obvious: the attacks on energy infrastructure were predictable, between war on military and civilian targets, Russia chooses civilian infrastructure, seeking to plunge Ukraine into darkness and cold, because that’s exactly what terrorists do to instill fear and force surrender.

As for the enemy’s tactics, here we see how Russian attacks are becoming not just more frequent, but also more technologically sophisticated. The enemy is no longer simply launching Shaheds and missiles, but synchronizing them in dense waves, building routes to bypass saturated air defense zones and focusing on specific locations and energy nodes. These attacks are designed to systematically exhaust our defenses, with additional severe consequences for civilian infrastructure.

– President Zelenskyy stated : “The task now is to be much more active in everything related to the preparation and implementation of long-range sanctions against Russia.” What means of destruction does Ukraine already have or will have in the near future, specifically in the context of retaliatory strikes, in particular against critical and energy infrastructure facilities of the enemy country?

– The president’s task is very well formulated – “long-range sanctions”. This clearly shows a certain weakness of the world towards Russia, which, in fact, allows it to use the tools of terror so actively. As for the “sanctions” themselves, we all understand and want mirror actions, and, of course, leaving the Leningrad and Moscow regions without electricity would be the right thing to do. But before striking, we need to carefully analyze what key and painful places there are in the Russian economy, how many and what opportunities we have, so that the effect is beneficial, and not a conditional blowup of the flagpole on Red Square.

It is time to move from symbolism and appeals to active actions. In fact, we are partially succeeding. We have high-quality solutions such as the Neptune missiles, which showed their effectiveness by sinking the Moskva cruiser. There are promising Hell and Flamingo. Let us recall our long-range drones, which cover more than a thousand kilometers and hit the most important elements, which stops the production of oil products in Russia.

Of course, there is a need for ready-made solutions, such as Storm Shadow, ATACMS, which we have used and have platforms for them. We need to talk about the promising AGM-158 JASSM and Taurus KEPD-350 – something that is guaranteed to bypass Russian air defense and cause destruction.

Indeed, we would be greatly helped by the Tomahawk, but here we will need more intelligence that reveals the full capabilities of these missiles. Look at how the enemy significantly improved its strikes on the territory of Ukraine when China gave Russia access to its extensive satellite system.

I, of course, support our weapons because they reduce dependence on political fluctuations and show that we are capable of not only defending ourselves but also delivering precise, effective strikes. However, real operational effectiveness still requires a lot of work.

– What role can Ukraine’s latest missile developments play in these “long-range sanctions”?

– First, it is independence in making decisions, but they must be balanced and not have serious consequences for the civilian population. No matter how painful it may seem, we are not terrorists, despite the collective Putin that Russia is. These are both risks with international assistance and a tool that Russia can twist for its propaganda.

Secondly, these are capabilities that partners cannot provide us with, for example, the Flamingo, which carries a ton of payload – this is exactly what is needed to effectively destroy the enemy’s defense complex. And a wide range of different means of destruction already makes the attack combined, which complicates interception.

Despite this, we still lack strategic vision, rapid search for promising solutions, and scaling.

– In previous interviews, you said that Ukraine needs to radically change its approach to air defense. How exactly can the air and missile defense of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure facilities be significantly strengthened? Are there any specific features of protecting such facilities?

– This war has significantly increased the list of threats. Now it is not only cruise missiles, ballistic missiles and aircraft, it is also drones that do not necessarily have to take off from enemy territory. Let’s start with the fact that we have a strategic gap in missile defense systems of the Arrow/THAAD type, which intercept air and ballistic threats at high altitudes and ranges. We are working well and intercepting cruise missiles, we are not bad at intercepting attack drones of the Shahed type. We are helped in this by the classic air defense systems that we received from our partners and that appeared under the programs of modernization of old Soviet air defense.

But the number of systems available is not enough to reliably protect us when everything possible is flying from different directions. And the vast majority of these systems have expensive interception means compared to the cost of the means of destruction launched by the enemy.

That is why I am talking about a multi-layered system with various detection elements , classic active and passive radar, sound and visual, which monitor, analyze the entire territory of the country and can accompany in real time, providing accurate coordinates of the target at any stage of the flight. At the same time, artificial intelligence systems, having analyzed the level of threat, help to choose the most effective countermeasure systems, starting from information distortion, if mobile communications are used, ending with laser or pulse weapons and classic countermeasure tools.

We must make the logic of massive shelling ineffective and learn to anticipate any attempts to modernize weapons. Is it expensive? Yes, it is expensive, but until the world is ready to give up Russia on the political map, we need to defend ourselves the way Israel does. Who can help us with this? Of course, Europe, over whose territory Russian UAVs are already flying.

– Tomahawk missiles. Will they really be able to become a powerful deterrent for the aggressor if a decision is made to transfer them to Ukraine? Will they have a purely psychological effect on the enemy or will they also have practical applications, in particular for strikes on the decision-making center?

– It all depends on the number of missiles transmitted and the final targets. The Tomahawk missile itself is a work of art. You can load up to 15 pre-programmed alternative targets for one missile and after launch, assign via satellite/datalink the target you want to attack. If you wait for a decision to be made, the missile can simply be in standby mode. The ultra-low flight profile allows you to bypass the landscape and remain invisible to most air defense systems. But for this, the Americans have satellites that allow you to get a map of the landscape and have contact with this missile. Therefore, if we want to use it to its full potential, we understand what else we need to get in order to be effective.

Therefore, the psychological effect is rather a guaranteed intention to transfer these missiles. And the practical application is strikes on critically important Russian defense enterprises.

https://war.obozrevatel.com/ukr/zalishiti-leningradsku-ta-moskovsku-oblasti-bez-svitla-bulo-b-pravilno-intervyu-z-hrapchinskim.htm