Ukrainian officials, drone executives, and national security experts are bracing for another difficult winter, fearing it could be the country's toughest challenge of the war to date.
"Winter is coming, obviously, and the last winter was very hard for Ukraine and for big cities in general," said Iryna Terekh, CEO of Ukrainian drone maker Fire Point, in an interview with CNBC.
Russian forces have ramped up the number of missile strikes on Ukrainian cities, likely seeking to exploit Kyiv's shortage of ballistic missile interceptors.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has emphasized the importance of ensuring that the country's energy and infrastructure facilities are fully operational and reliably protected for the next heating season.
"We are trying to squeeze in the program that usually takes 20 to 30 years to develop in a few years, and this is not something that you can do within a matter of three months before the winter," Terekh said.
Ukraine remains heavily reliant on the American Patriot PAC-3 system to intercept Russian ballistic missiles.
"We need to be realistic about the threat we face over the coming months, particularly given the country's acute shortage of air defense systems," Terekh said.
