Ukraine's top commander says Russia plans big boost in drone production

Ukraine's top military commander said Russia is showing no signs of interest in talks leading to a peace deal and, instead, is boosting arms production, including a target of 1,000 drones per day.



"On the contrary, we see an increase in intensity of military actions, an increase in the number of offensive enemy groupings, an increase in production of strike weapons, missiles and drones," Oleksandr Syrskyi told the online media outlet lb.ua in an interview published on Sunday.



"At the moment, the enemy produces daily 404 'Shaheds' of different kinds. And the plans are to increase that. The enemy plans to boost production significantly, up to 1,000 drones a day."



Ukraine's military, he said, has to do "everything to disrupt these plans and inflict losses so that the enemy renounces its plans, and also to create conditions in order to hold talks. No one is going to make a deal with a weak side."



Syrskyi also praised the Ukrainian military's "deep-strike" tactics, which he described as "our strong point," resulting in hits on 719 targets and $15 billion in damage, mainly to Russia's oil industry.