The Russian president acknowledged, in a meeting with several Russian military personnel, that Ukrainian drones are a serious problem. He also spoke about Russia's plan to build a replica network to the Starlink satellite network used by Ukraine for drone attacks, TASS and The Moscow Times report.
Several Russian servicemen were welcomed to the Kremlin by Vladimir Putin. They talked about the situation on the front, but also about the Ukrainian drone attacks. “Their aim is to divide Russian society, to cause confusion and economic damage,” the Russian president said, according to The Moscow Times. “But they won't succeed,” he continued.
His comments came hours after Kiev hit a refinery 1,000 kilometers from the front line. Putin acknowledged that the strike had caused economic damage, but said that “everything was quickly resumed,” the Moscow Times reports.
“Your commanders tell us what problems drones are creating for us”
But Putin didn't just talk about the Ukrainian strikes inside Russia, but also about the strikes on Russian troops.
“As for the fight against drones, we are well aware and fully aware of this fact, and your commanders are fully aware of this; they tell us about it all the time, every day – believe me, every day – about what problems drones create for us and what kind of ways they see to overcome this problem,” Putin said, quoted by the TASS news agency.
He also said that he did not want to go into details, however. “I know what it's like to look up when these drones are hanging there like flies,” he added.
Putin praises Russian rival at Starlink
Putin also said Russia was developing artificial intelligence and FPV drones and building its own constellation of low-orbit satellites to replace Starlink, Elon Musk's network used by Ukraine and blocked to Russia.
“Office 1440” is the structure responsible for this constellation of low-orbit satellites, Putin continued. “It is in no way inferior to Starlink, maybe it even surpasses it. The problem is the expansion of these capabilities. We are working in this direction,” said the Russian president.
“Office 1440” recently attempted to launch its own constellation of satellites. 16 such satellites were launched in March, but one was lost. Long-term plans call for expanding the network to 383 satellites by 2030. By comparison, the Starlink network has about 10,650 satellites in low Earth orbit.
