Ukrainian An-28 transforms into Russian drone hunter with 70 kills and counting
October 7, 2025
A new Ukrainian aircraft has joined the growing list of aircraft defending Ukrainian skies from Russian drone attacks. The An-28 is a Soviet-era passenger turboprop plane that has found an unlikely epilogue in its autumn years.
Rare Ukrainian An-28 turns into Russian drone hunter
Images have emerged online showing a Ukrainian Antonov An-28 (NATO ‘Cash’) light turboprop, twin-engined transport aeroplane sporting dozens of Russian drone kills. Most of these are against Russian Shahed-style drones.
Ukrainian civilian aircraft An-28 modified for the role of "Shaheed hunter". On board the aircraft there are notes about interception of 59 drones. As it is said, at this time the crew has already shot down 70 targets. https://t.co/wuwXzdxw2t pic.twitter.com/9fy1vytd7P
— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) October 6, 2025
The post was posted by the Polish OSINT account Daniel Dragan, but appears to have since been deleted by that account. The popular pro-Ukrainian OSINT account, Special Kherson Cat, reported that the aircraft has 59 kill markings; it is said now the crew has shot down 70 targets.
The Antonov An-28 was developed in the late 1960s as a short-range airliner for Aeroflot. It first flew in 1969, although the first production model wasn’t produced until 1984. 170 of the aircraft were built in Mielec, Poland, between 1984 and 1992, with around a dozen or so remaining in service today.
Ukraine’s growing list of drone hunters
With the ever-increasing proliferation of Russian drones, Ukraine is exploring more and more ways to counter those drones.
Ukraine uses its F-16 Fighting Falcons and MiG-29s in this role, although this has apparently resulted in the loss of aircraft, with debris being sucked into the engine. Intercepting slow-moving drones with fast jets is a challenging task.
Cockpit footage from a Ukrainian Air Force MiG-29 Fulcrum desperately defending against a massive Russian drone and cruise missile attack earlier this week.
— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) October 5, 2025
Seen here splashing a pair of Russian attack drones. pic.twitter.com/JHPrXN7lfJ
One aircraft to make the headlines was a Yak-52 training aircraft that Ukraine has used to shoot down reconnaissance drones over Odessa. That was accomplished with the passenger carrying a gun and shooting them down. Russia appears to have copied Ukraine, as at least one Yak-52 is now reportedly used in that role.
Ukraine has had particular success using modified helicopters working in tandem to counter the drones. Helicopters now account for up to 40% of interceptions in the areas they are operating.
Swift Beat, a startup tech company founded by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, has also reportedly developed a highly effective interceptor drone, although few details are known.
Europe’s planned ‘drone wall’
Russia is escalating its hybrid war with Europe. Unable to defeat Ukraine, Russia is in no position to take on NATO, although its provocations appear more to test the unity of the alliance than actually spark a war.
Russia’s hybrid war against NATO includes sabotage operations, assassinations, election meddling, disinformation operations, fighter jet incursions, and various drone airspace violations.
Russia’s drone violations range from Shahed-style drones flying over Romania and Poland during mass attacks on Ukraine, to mystery drones flying over German and Danish airports attributed to Russia.
Europe is realising it needs to rapidly develop its own counter-drone air defence, with some calling for building a ‘drone wall’. Dutch F-35s recently shot down intruding Russian drones, but this type of interception is unsustainable against masses of cheap drones.
Ukrainian armed forces neutralize several drones in Danish airspace – General Staff.
— Jürgen Nauditt 🇩🇪🇺🇦 (@jurgen_nauditt) October 4, 2025
Representatives of European countries participated in the demonstration and witnessed firsthand the effectiveness of Ukrainian technologies in countering aerial threats.
Can you please come to… pic.twitter.com/4bxDF2o2i2
Ukraine is now a world-leader in counter-drone tactics and technology. It is in a position to sell its expertise to Europe and help NATO countries rapidly plug the gaping hole in their air defence network. Denmark recently called Ukrainian experts to help it defend its airports against drones.
While Europe is unlikely to start intercepting drones with Soviet-era transports, it is looking to implement a broad range of measures from electronic warfare to counter-drone interceptors.
